Silent Tears
by L. Hawthorne Black
Summary: They say every child's voice is unique, special. I wonder what mine sounded like. Hi, my name is Lynnia Evers and I'm a mute.  Watch Lyn as she goes into the 80th Hunger Games, the very same thing that killed her sister years ago. Will she survive it?
1. Prologue

**Hey, I've been submitting tributes for SYOTs for a while now and I desperately needed to write a story on one of them. So, here it is! The life of Lynnia Evers! It's kind of short, but let me no if you like it! If you do, I'll make another chapter and so on. Feel free to PM me if you would like to create some minor characters. Reviews are LOVED!**

They say that no child's voice is the same. Some are high, some low. Some are like soft chimes in the wind. Others resemblings the chirps of birds . I wonder what mine sounded like. Hi, my name is Lynnia Evers, but I go by Lyn. I'm 14 years old and I am a mute.

You see, there are many different kinds of mutes. There are deaf people, who can't hear. And since they've never heard words, they don't know how to say them and find other ways to communicate. Other people can't speak due to certain mental illnesses or disabilities.

I've even heard of kids being selectively mute in specific social situations. How I wish I could be like them, having the _choice_ to speak. Then, there are avoxes, who are traitors to the Capitol and are forced to have their tongues cut off. They then spend the rest of their lives serving capitol people, tributs and mentors. Well, I've been quite thankful for my tongue ever since I learned about them in school.

What I have is called traumatic mutism. This is when a child has suffered from a painful event or experience, which has caused them to stop speaking in all situations. It used to be more common (as in, more than one person), but that was a long time ago, before Panem ever existed!

Now, I'm the only known mute in the district, most likely the only traumatic mute in all of Panem. It can be pretty lonely sometimes. Still, I don't like how people act like I can speak if I really wanted to. I can't. Trust me, I've tried for years.

The truth is that I haven't been able to make a sound since my older sister, Rosalyn, died in the Hunger Games. She took care of me more than my own parents did. Rosa was the kind of person who saw the good in everyone. She would look after me while our parents worked. She made up silly games to play and different ways to look at the world. Most of all, she was always there to catch me when I fell.

People never say how I look like my parents because I always remind them of Rosa. Except our eyes. That's the main difference between us. She had beautiful silver eyes, much better than the regular Seam eyes in my opinion. I have my aunt's pale green eyes with flecks of silver from my dad.

Rosa had said that I had starry eyes when I was five, since the green splashed with the silver in a faint star shape. I told her she had sparkle eyes because I liked sparkles and thought her eyes were pretty (I was five, of course). She laughed and rewarded me with a big hug. My sister was always easy to please, since so many things made her happy in life.

There was a significant age difference between us, nine years. My parents had just gotten married when Rosa was concieved. She was the happy accident. My father said that she was one of the most giggly and happy children he'd ever met.

Even all the obstacles of living in the Seam didn't bother her. No money? Oh well, let's work some more! Little food? No problem, I don't eat much anyway! Not much health care? I'll do it myself! Rosa has a happy answer for everything.

I was born when my mother landed a job as an apothecary worker's assistant. Rosa had begged for years to have a little brother or sister with no luck and couldn't be happier at the news. I still don't know what she saw in me that made her so happy. Sometimes, she would just try to entertain me for hours.

Rosa quickly learned how to take care of me and spent just about every waking hour, practicing. My first word wasn't mama or dada. It was rara, which Rosa flipped out about. She had convinced herself it was closest to her name, which I guess it might have been.

When I was two, she taught me how to play peek-a-boo and high five. At three, she would take me to the back yard to pick out pretty flowers. Rosa began to take me to school with her when I was four, since I was beginning to hate saying goodbye to her more and more. Not to mention, it wasn't safe to have a little kid at home alone. She taught me how to make letters, but at first, I didn't understand how they could make words. I didn't think you could make Rosa with an r. You needed a rose and an 'a'.

By five, I understood and could speak clearly, but it was usually to Rosa. She was fourteen by then and hanging out with a lot of her own friends. Still, I think she felt bad about leaving me behind because she stopped hanging out with them so much when I asked her where she went.

No surprises came when I turned six, except that I only wanted to be more like by big sister. Rosa and I enjoyed looking up at the stars, making up shapes and people out of them and of course, she found a game out of it. You had thirty seconds to find something or someone in the stars and thirty more to make up a story about it.

We created the food fairy with the pot of warm soup who would shower our district with treats. I always asked Rosa why she never came, but she would frown and say the food fairy was really busy. Then, there was the archer who protected us from the evil butcher man that wanted to steal all the bread in our district. They were random stories off the top of our heads.

Still, there was one thing that I liked to do the most with Rosa and that was sing. I rarely sung, but she had the voice of a thousand angels. She would always be humming a tune or creating new verses for her songs. But she wouldn't share her songs with just anybody. Nope, that's why I felt so specially around Rosa. She must have taught me a thousand different tunes before she died. I just wish I could actually sing one again.

Once I was nearly seven, our mother said she was pregnant and that we'd be having another sibling. Rosa began to count down the days, take her mother off work and brainstorm an endless list of names. She substituted for my mother at the apothecary shop and worked double shifts.

It was strange seeing my mother so much and my sister so little. My mom and I could have almost been strangers or maybe distant relatives that you don't see too often. I picked flowers in our backyard and weaved them into crowns like Rosa had taught me, giving them to her as presents when she got home from work. Being her fun loving self, she never failed to praise me and decorate our room with them until they wilted.

Our mother gave birth to a healthy baby boy that year. She named him William, but Rosa thought that name was to grown up for such a small child. Mother said he would grow into it.

They got into a bit of an argument with that, but my sister came up with the perfect solution. "I'm calling him Willie!" she'd said with pride. After all, Rosa was incredibly stubborn, especially when it came to her family. My mother gave up on trying to convince her of the name William and even let her and I pick out the middle name. That was how Willie Aspen Evers came to be.

We now had a third in our group, but Rosa had enough love for the both of us.

The last memory I have is her sad smile as the peace keepers took me away. She ended up making it to the final eight, which was more than expected from a 16 year old from 12.

A district 1 career stabbed his sword into her abdomen. His appearance burned into my mind. He was quite muscular, with platinum blonde hair and hard brown eyes. A thin scar trailed from his temple to his jaw. The sword to her abdomen didn't kill her, at first. She was strong, but she could only taken so much.

I remember watching the boy's sinister smile as her striked her again, finishing the job. After that, I got sick and fell into a bit of an emotional depression. My parents didn't know what to do and looking back on it all, I wouldn't have known what to do either. My sister laughter echoed in my mind. The career's smirk crept into my night mares. I stopped eating, stopped talking and completely shut myself out from the world.

That was until the day my baby brother, William, crawled into my room. My father was at work and my mother was speaking with a peace keeper about Rosa's token. When I looked into his eyes, I saw the same sparkle eyes that Rosa had. I think that was what kept me going. The fact that someone needed me, depended on me. I decided he never really looked like a William to begin with.

Rosa was right. He needed a good older sister, so that his sparkle eyes would always shine. It's what Rosalyn would've wanted me to do and what I haven't failed at yet.

**Let me know how you like it! **


	2. The Hunter

**I'm in the writng zone right now and wrote the next chapter faster than I thought I would. Take that writer's block! Anyway, the next chapter is going to be the Reaping, so it's your first chance to create a minor character. I need a male tribute for 12. If you have any ideas for one, please leave a name, age, appearance, personality and anything else you can think of in the reviews or PM me. Please!**

I woke to a small hand, gently shaking my shoulder.

"Lynnie." it whispered. Instantly recognizing who it was, I opened my eyes to find my little brother, Willie, sitting beside me on my bed. He gave a light smile when he saw me awaken. "Good morning Lynnie!"

Sitting up, I moved my hand in two positions, one for good and one for morning. Then, knowing Willie, he'd probably been missing breakfast again to wake me up himself. He always did this when our parents let me sleep in, which was usually a really good sign like a birthday or a really bad sign like when my mother had to quit her job.

This time the reason was because it was Reaping day, the worst day of the year. I shivered. Every year, Willie drew closer and closer to having to put his name into the cup. Thank god he was only seven. Still young, still unable to participate in the horrid slaughter that was the games. Anyway, I signed for him to go back down and finish his breakfast. His eyes widened as usual when I did this.

"Sometimes I think you can read my mind!" he giggled and trotted back over to the kitchen. Although he was getting older, Willie never seemed to lose his adorable childlike innocence. Being on the smaller and thinner side didn't help it either. He was often thought of as a five year old by some of the visitors. Let's just say that I learned to correct them very fast with my sign language to avoid his smile vanishing.

Besides, Willie was a lot wiser for a seven year old anyway. He could understand things much beyond what our parents believed of him.

I got out of bed and checked one of the few clocks in our house. 8:30. I never slept in really late. How could I when the woods came alive so much earlier? When Ash would be waiting for me, our bows in his hands? Of course, his mother had probably let him sleep in too and there wouldn't be any hunting or gathering we could do today. There wasn't enough time on Reaping Day without being noticed.

Actually, Ash hadn't taken me to hunt in a while. I was getting a little worried. Still, I practiced with my bow like he wanted me to, but I didn't have enough courage to go back to the Hob to check on him by myself. The Hob was a major black market in the Seam and was the only place you could get good prices on game that didn't include being whipped to death by peacekeepers.

The last time I went there alone I nearly had my own hand traded off! A lot of the people there took adantage of my inability to speak and simply belived that I didn't want to say no. Still, Ash _had _straightened them out enough for them to leave me be when he was around.

I took a deep breath. I shot two squirrels today when they got too close to the electric fence, my family currently had Ash's delicious rabbit for breakfast and it was a few hours before the Reaping started. So, I made my way to the Hob. Our families needed as much money as we could get to make it through and this would, no doubt, trade for something useful.

As I entered the place, the usual antics were up. Some people were snoring, others yelling at each other over prices and a few staring with evil grins when I opened the door with no Ash. Immediately, a filthy lady with the grip of a cobra pulled me to her section.

"What do you have to trade dear?" Her voice practically hissed. Her eyes fixated on my hair. "You know, locks of hair from a lovely youth as yourself could be worth plenty!" I shook my head, trying to pull away. It was no use. Her thin, reedy fingers were holding my shoulder to hard that her nails were becoming a little bloody. I winced and tried to sign to her, but it was like trying to tell a snake not to squeeze the life out of its prey.

"Let go of her." an unfamiliar voice called out. It wasn't Ash's. The snake lady eyed him with annoyance, but released her death grip on me all the same. As soon as she left, I turned to my rescuer. He almost looked like an older version of Ash to be honest, but so didn't a lot of Seam boys. His gray eyes stared at me slight confusion.

"What are you doing here?" he asked me. I could understand why he was purplexed. I was a fourteen year old in the Hob alone. This probably wasn't one of my best ideas. I held up my game bag to answer him. Surprisingly, this seemed to catch his interest. I widened my eyes when he took out his own game bag, a bit large than mine. I thought he might have smiled at my expression, but he didn't. Still, his eyes looked a little kinder.

"So you're a hunter?" He guessed. I nodded.

'_I shot two squirrels._' I signed, receiving a typical what-are-you-doing look. I frowned and took the squirrels out and showed them to him. He nodded and motioned for me to sit with him. I was handed a small piece of paper and a pen.

"Why can't you speak?" he asked me, directly.

'_I'm a mute. I can't speak. I use sign language._' I wrote and handed the paper to him. His eyes scanned the paper and he nodded. Strange, most people had a pity look or somethig. He didn't, like Ash hadn't when he found out. I liked it.

"Why are you here alone? Isn't it Reaping Day too?" The question caught me off guard.

'_I'm looking for my friend. He normally trades here._' I jotted down on the paper. The hunter thought for a moment, pondering something.

"He's around your age, right?" I nodded. There weren't many teenagers in the Hob. In fact, Ash and I had been the only ones for a while now. "He was here earlier, but left. To get ready for the Reaping, I guess." That sparked my attention. Ash _had_ been here. It was strange though. He'd been keeping to himself lately, saying he was working on something that I couldn't see. I wrote a quick thank you on the paper and was getting ready to leave when he stopped me.

"What's your name?" he asked. I hesitated, but wrote it down anyway. He didnt seem like the type to cause trouble.

"Lyn Evers." He repeated, testing out the words. "I'm make a trade for those squirrels" This confused me. The hunter had plenty of game in his bag, likely to be far more valuable then two squirrels. Why would he want to trade?

Still, I handed them over. There was no way I was going to make a trade with anyone in the Hob today, not after that creepy snake lady. I examined my right shoulder. Her razor like nails had left five thin, half moon circles that now had a splash of crimson over them. Lovely.

Then again, things never go well for me on Reaping Day. Although, nothing compares to the Reaping Day that my sister Rose was taken away. Anyway, the hunter boy pulled out a brown scrap piece of cloth and tore a small chunk off, placing it onto my shoulder. I looked up at him, hoping he would see the graditude I felt in my eyes. He then took out a loaf of bread and broke it into halves.

One of the halves went onto the scrap cloth, along with two handfuls of berries and six crackers. Finally, he tied the ends of the cloth off into a little bag and handed it to me. I must have looked stunned. I could remember the last time I'd had fresh bread or juicy berries. A smile found its way to my lips, something that had never happened before in front of strangers, and I mouthed a thank you.

"No problem." He muttered. "Happy Hunger Games." My smile lessened at this, but I was still incredibly thankful for his kindness to me. I pointed at my name scribbled down on the note and back to me. Then, I pointed to him, hoping he would understand. He did.

"Gale." He replied. "Gale Hawthorne." I nodded and left. But as I did, I could've sworn I saw a smile on Gale's face. Then again, maybe it was my imagination.


	3. Reaped

**Alright, this chapter's a little longer, but I hope you like it just as well. Please PM me if you have _ANY_ character ideas. They could be stylists, prep teams, _tributes_, reporters, gamekeepers, interview hosts, mutts, etc. Just leave a name, age, gender, what they are ad any other information you think is important. PLEASE!**

After my encounter with Gale Hawthorne, I headed back home. My mother frowned as I opened the door. I should have kept a better eye on the time. It was now 9:25am. Had I really been looking for Ash that long? It was only an hour until the Reaping began.

"Where have you been?" she asked, both upset that I hadn't told her and concerned about the time. I signed to her, but as usual, Willie understood before she did.

"She was looking for Ash." he told her. This happened a lot. Willie knew more sign language than our parents and could read my signing as easily as reading off a page in a book. Since they worked so much, they weren't as experienced in my communication. My brother had declared himself as "Lynnie's official translator!" I only allowed him to call me 'Lynnie'. It was too embarrassing otherwise. Still, I would do anything for my little brother. He liked to feel helpful, so I let him be my translator. This was only for the house of course and Ash understood nearly as much as my brother did.

"Well, get dressed. You don't want to be late!" My mother grew even more worried as she said this. She was always tense during Reapings and had perfect reason to, since her first daughter was killed in them. I nodded and headed to my room, while Willie headed into his own to get changed. I put the only formal outfit I owned that still fit me, my deep blue dress that I'd recieved for my birthday. It fell down to just above my knees and included short sleeves that would be able to cover my mark from the snake lady.

I switched my regular sneakers with Rosa's matching flats. It wasn't often that I wore many things of hers, mainly because it brought up the memories all over again. But I wanted to know that some part of my sister was with me as I went through the Reaping, just as I had every other time that I had gone.

There wasn't much I could do with my hair, but I brushed it out and kept it down in its usual side part. My hair was a little wavy and on the thicker side, but I didn't mind. Finally, I went back to the kitchen, where Willie, my dad and my mom were. They smiled when they saw me, which made me return one back.

"Lynnie, you look pretty." my brother smiled, his eyes sparkling even more than normal. I knelt down and rolled his sleeves up, since he still hadn't grown into his dress shirt and pants.

"Your friend's here." my dad told me. I turned to meet the familiar soft gray eyes of Ash O'Riley, one of the best hunters in 12, the boy the girls at school would never stop talking about and most importantly, my best friend. He had the traditional Seam looks, with his black hair and olive skin. His eyes, however, always seemed a shade or two lighter than the others. A light smile formed at his lips when I looked at him.

"Hey." he greeted. I signed it back to him. "You ready?" I nodded, grabbing my makeshift bag of treats that Gale had given me. I gave both of my parents and brother a kiss on the cheek and then headed out wth Ash. When we were out of earshot, I turned to him.

'_Where were you?_' I signed, frowning.

"I told you I had some stuff to take care of." he replied.

_'That was a few days ago. I thought you'd be done by now._' The truth was that I had missed him, a lot. He looked a little guilty now.

"I'm sorry, but it took longer than I thought. I actually just finished this morning." I thought about this for a moment.

_'Is that why you were at the Hob?_' Most people wouldn't have noticed the change in him, but four years of knowing him allowed me to see them. His shoulders tensed and he eyed me, surprised.

"How did you know that?" He asked, hesitant.

_'Someone there told me._' I tilted my head slightly to the side. _'So, what were you doing?_' He relaxed a little, although I didn't know why. What was he doing at the Hob that he wouldn't tell me about? Ash stopped walking and turned so that we were only inches apart. One finger went over his lips and he smirked.

"It's a secret." he said, enjoying my reaction. He resumed back to walking. "By the way, you're blushing." This only made me blush more and earned a chuckle from him. I playfully nudged his shoulder with mine. Then, I remembered the food and opened up the bag. Ash's eyes widened at the rare treats.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, caught off guard. I put my finger over my lips and signed with my other hand. _'It's a secret._'

"Alright, I'll let you in on my secret if you tell me yours." he offered, placing a cracker into his mouth.

_'The same guy who told me about you at the Hob. I don't know why he would give me this for just two squirrels though._' I signed, while popping a berry into my mouth. 'He's _a hunter, like us, but he's older. Alright, now what's your secret_?' Ash said nothing and ripped of a piece of bread, savoring the taste. I frowned at him.

"You never said when." was his reply. I shot him a glare. "Don't worry your pretty little head off. I promise I'll show you after the Reaping." I rolled my eyes. We finished most of the treats and saved the rest for our little siblings. Ash's little sister, Alyssa, was quite fond of berries, as was Willie. The two were actually good friends and loved to play together. It was especially nice because they were the same age.

"Good luck." Ash whispered to me, just before we were separated into our sections. I listened as our mayor gave his annual speech that even he had grown quite bored of. He spoke of how the rebellion failed and this year's Hunger Games. What caught my attention was when he announced that Katniss Everdeen would be mentoring. Even though she'd won the 74th Hunger Games, she never mentored. Only Haymitch Abernathy. It was strange that she picked now to start.

"Hello District 12!" Effie Trinket excitedly greeted the crowd, only to recieve the usual silent. She looked the same as always, except this year she wore a bright purple wig and had matched her outfit with it. "Let's switch it up this year and start off with the boys, shall we?"

She walked over to the large blue ball of names. I bit my lip.

_'Please don't be Ash. Please don't be Ash._' I signed over and over to myself. He'd taken out tesserae again this year and had his name in that ball eight times. It wasn't nearly as any as some of the Seam boys, but I still worried. I couldn't live with myself if he was reaped.

"Russell Irving" I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't Ash. A sandy haired boy with blue eyes stepped out of the sixteen year old section. He might have been a older, taller and less starving than Ash, but I doubted he had my best friend's survival skills. Still, I shouldn't have judged him, or even compared him my hunting partner. The capitol transformed harmless children into vicious, strategic monsters.

"And now for the ladies!" Effie continued, with just as much, if not more excitement. I knew I had ten slips against me, but again, others had more. I was a little more calm, knowing that Ash was spared. Still, that didn't mean I wouldn't be chosen.

"Lynnia Evers!" she squealed. I froze on the spot. Had I heard her right? Screams and cries could be heard from the family section. I took a deep breath and silently walked up to the stage. My eyes found Ash in the fifteen year old section. He was in a mix of emotions, shock, fear, pain, sadness, more shock. I'd never seen those emotions on his face and now, looking at him so upset, I never wanted to again.

I glanced at the mentors, Katniss and Haymitch. Haymitch looked indifferent, but Katniss, was there the slightest twinge of pity? Worry? Anything? I hoped so. I needed someone to help me, to get my legs to move so I could run. Run past the peacekeeper, through the crowd, take Ash and Willie with me and just get away from these horrible games. But I couldn't do that. I couldn't abandon my district, for all of them to get punished. So, my legs stayed in place, numb on the spot.

Memories of Rosa walking up on the stage flash back to me, no matter how hard I try to avoid them. Still, I keep my face as calm as I can. Looking scared and broken won't make people want to help me and I know I will need all the hep I can get if I want to survive.

As of now, I'm officially the District 12 female tribute for the 80th Hunger Games. My likely death will be shown on national television and there isn't a thing I can do about it.


	4. Goodbye

**This chapter is _really_ long, but my next chapters will be a lot shorter. So yeah, pretty much everything I said last chapter still applies here. Let me know how you like it!**

Without another word, Russel and I were rushed to the Justice Building by several peacekeepers. Two of them ushered me into a private room that quickly caught my attention. It wasn't a large room, but it was plenty larger than my own bedroom. I sat on a worn, but still fine, velvet couch.

The peacekeepers that brought me here didn't bother to say anything. They just shut the door.

I didn't expect many visitors. Who would say goodbye to a girl they hardly knew and couldn't reply a thanks back to them? When I was little, it always hurt to see people glance at you with that tiniest interest, that tiniest hope, and then turn back and continue with the day. As the years piled on, I'd grown a little more accustomed to it, although it still irked Ash to insanity.

My first visitors were, of course, my family. My mother, father and Willie wrapped their arms around me the instant the peacekeeper let them in. Willie and my mom were half sobbing, and even my dad was shedding a few tears, something I'd rarely ever seen him do.

I did my best to sign and tell them it was alright, but my mother's sobs only grew louder. I think the fact that I couldn't speak only pained her more.

I hated this, how much pain the capitol had already caused my family. Once again, I signed to my family, this time with a little more determination to get my words across.

"She says she doesn't want us to be sad." Willie said between sniffles. "She wants us to be brave and we can't give up no matter what." That earned another hug. After this, my little brother turned to our parents.

"I wanna talk to Lynnie alone." he mumbled, clinging onto me as if his life depended on it. We could both see they didn't want to leave just yet, but they knew how much we depended on each other and nodded. My mother gingerly kissed my forehead and my father repeated this, along with the words "don't give up, Lynnie-bird."

I almost smiled. My dad had a nickname for each of his children, but he never used mine after I became mute. Rosa was always "Rose bud" and occasionally "Rosie cheeks". He especially liked teasing her with it when she was embarrassed because her cheeks would turn as red as the flower she was named for.

My brother was "Willie goat". He was learning about animals at the time and the goat had caught his interest. So, dad taught him some old story about three billy goats, but changed billy to Willie. The name had stuck ever since and he used it on Willie whenever they were having a father-son time.

I got "Lynnie-bird" when I was five. A hummingbird had landed on a nearby tree and I watched it for at least two hours, slowly and silently getting closer. Finally, I was able to coax it onto my finger. It was only for a few minutes before the little bird zipped away to some lovely flowers, but my dad had called me Lynnie-bird as my nickname. Still, it hadn't been used since Rosa's death.

He couldn't see my graditude long enough, since a peacekeeper shoved him out of the room. I turned to my brother and his head ducked into my side.

"I don't want you to go, Lynnie." His voice was so pleading, so innocent. "If you go, you won't come back. I'll be all alone." It took every ounce of strength I had not to break down and cry with him. It wasn't fair that he had to lose to sisters to the Hunger Games. It just wasn't right.

I tilted his chin up, so he would be able to see my signs.

'_I will do everything I can to come back home to you._' My handed moved into each position quickly. He held up his pinkie finger to me.

"Promise?" he asked. "That you'll do the very best you can? The very, very best?" The tears escaped as I smiled, miserably, and linked my pinkie to his.

'_The very, very, very best._' I assured him with my free hand. '_but if I don't come back, I need you to be a really brave boy and help mom and dad, ok? Ash, too._' He nodded, putting on his bravest face. '_I'll even let you have my little bow. Ash can teach you._' Anything to protect him, anything to give him the slightest chance to defend himself if I couldn't be there anymore.

'_Don't ever put in tessarae for the Hunger Games_.' I warned him. Finally, I wrapped my arms around my little brother in tight hug. '_And don't forget me or Rosa. Please don't forget._'

"That'll be my promise." He whispered back with his adorable little smile. The peacekeeper took him out of the room, a little gentler than my parents. I silently thanked him.

My brother was out of my life, likely for good. I felt curling up and dying. It wouldn't be much longer until that happened anyway.

My next visitor was a shocker. I would have never guessed it, but there in front of me stood Gale Hawthorne. He almost looked as if he were in some sort of deja vu being in this room, puzzled and slightly upset. I wondered why.

He took a few steps closer to me, so we were in whispering distance. Gale put his hand onto my shoulder, lowering himself to my height like I was younger than what I really was. Strangely though, I didn't mind. In the very short time that I'd known him (a few hours), he didn't seem to be the kind of guy to show much emotion.

"Your family, your brother, they won't starve." He told me, sounding calm as always. My eyes widened. "I'll even keep that friend of yours out of trouble."

I was stunned. Was this man always selflessly kind to people he met? No, if he was like this to everyone, nobody in district 12 would have a single complaint. Still, Gale made me feel ... special. Like that feeling you get when an adult gives you a treat, and only you. I smiled at him in a way that clearly meant thank you.

"But I do want you to do something for me." He told me. I nodded, ready to give him my own hand if it meant that my family would be safe. He now whispered in my ear. "I'm not Katniss Everdeen's cousin. Tell her that she needs to stop punishing herself. Peeta died for her to live a better life, not to torture herself over him." His gray eyes softened for a moment. "Tell her I missing hunting with her. That it's not the same. Most importantly, tell her I miss her, every minute of every day."

Gale stood up, his calm composure back.

"May the odds _ever_ be in your favor." He told me, with a smirk as he used the capitol's funny accent. With that, he left as suddenly as he'd arrived.

"You have one more visitor." The peacekeeper announced after a few minutes. The door opened once again, revealing a face I cared about and trusted so much.

Ash was by my side in an instant, long years of hunting giving the both of us speed and accuracy. If there was one thing I liked so much about being around him right now, it was that I could release a little of my emotions. Not all, that would leave me empty and him overwhelmed, but enough to keep me from becoming too bottled up.

I buried my head into his chest, tears finally breaking free. I don't know how long we stayed like that, me silently crying, listening to the sound of his heart beat, and him gently rubbing my back. Eventually, I felt a few drops of water on my neck.

Lifting my head up, I noticed for the first time I'd ever known him, that Ash was crying too. The hard, clever, expert hunter Ash, had tears in his eyes, although he qucikly wiped them away. Sometimes, I forgot that he was fifteen, going on sixteen in the fall. It was easy to forget our ages when we were in the woods. When we were hunting in the forest of district 12, it felt like we were eternal, forever hunting through our woods.

How I wished it could have stayed like that. Ash and I getting a nice day's catch and then skinning them out, preparing them for dinner. That wasn't going to happen again.

His hands, slightly scarred from years of hunting, gently wiped away my tears as I returned my gaze to him. One of his hands lingered on my cheek.

"You have to make it." He told me. Typical Ash. While others told me to try my best, he expects no little of winning. Still, I know he's only worried about me. I nod my head.

'_You'll take care of Willie, right?_' I signed.

"I promise on my life. He'll be completely fine." He assured me. Then, his eyes softened, almost like Gale's did when he talked about my mentor. "It's you I'm worried about."

'_I'm scared_.' It was true and I only ever admitted fear with him. He brushed a stray tear from my face.

"Do you want to know my secret?" He asked, trying to cheer me up. "It's kind of ruined now because of the stupid reapings and everything, but I gave you my word I'd tell you."

I nod my head once again, trying to change to a topic that might bring less tears.

"Close your eyes." he whispered. I slowly did as I was told. I had complete trust in Ash. He then took my arms to hold my hair up. What? Something was placed around my neck, but it didn't make me choke. Instead, it hung loosely and gently.

"Ok, you can open them." Once I heard his reply, my eyes eagerly snapped open. I looked down at the base of my neck and froze. There, laid a small white crystal pendant, hung on a dark leather strap. It was the most gorgeous necklace I'd ever seen. My eyes flickered back to Ash, alarmed.

"Don't worry. I didn't pay for it. I traded." he chuckled. "That's why I've been kind of avoiding you for the week or so and why I was at the Hob earlier. I would've been able to get a chain too, if that lady hadn't been so damn pricey."

'_I've never seen something so beautiful.'_ I signed.

"I have." he mumbled under his breath. Not sure if I'd heard right, I turned to him, curious. "Listen, there's another part to the secret." My eyes widened, but I happily closed them again. I was beginning to like this game. Ash's light laugh was heard next to me. I was about to open them again, but he stopped me from doing so.

His lips gently brush up against my cheek. My breathing stopped. Fireworks lit off in my head. _What_ had just happened? After his lips departed my cheek, I turned to him, eyes wide. His hand was on my other cheek and his face was just inches away from me.

"I love you Lyn." he breathed into my ear. "That's why you have to win the games. If you die, I die. Please Lyn, win the games for me, for you. For us." He pulled me in a close hug. Still too stunned to sign, I wrapped my arms around his neck. I wasn't sure if the tears that fell were happy or sad, but they fell none the less.

"Time's up." a peacekeeper yelled. Ash stood up with me still in his arms. He gently pried my hands from him and touched my cheek one last time.

"Don't forget." He gave me a weary smile, one that was both in pain and in love at the same time. The peacekeeper hauled him out of the room, leaving me alone with one thought.

_Ash loves me._


	5. Mentor Katniss

**Huh. I thought this chapter would be shorter, but I guess I'm cursed to have long chapters. Oh well. Hope you like it and again, LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY CHARACTER IDEAS!**

I didn't sit in that visiting room for long. Three large peacekeepers soon took me away, saying something about a train ride. These people really didn't like to wait for an instant.

Things were going by so fast. It was almost dizzying. There was really only one word that I could ue to describe the train. Huge! Never had I seen such a large machine. Then again, I'd never seen a car before either, which was one of the many ways the people in the capitol got around.

Although I hesitated, the peacekeepers dragged me into the giant metal snake. The inside was even more stunning! There were dozens of rooms, each painted a light gold.

I was instantly greeted with the ever so cheery, Effie Trinket. As annoying and loud as she was, it was it bit of a relief to see a familiar face.

"Hello Lynnia!" I grimaced at my full name. It wasn't that I didn't like it, but I was so used to being called Lyn. The full word just sounded strange and unheard of.

'_Lyn._' I signed, correcting her. Her large grin lessed and her eyes showered with confusion. Then, I realized it. No one in the capitol spoke sign language.

Fear rushed through me, almost as bad as when I was reaped. How was I going to talk to these people? Effie quickly plastered her grin back onto her face and acted as if nothing had happened.

"You'll be sharing a room with Katniss." she told me. "third door on the left. Dinner will be in one hour, so don't be late!"

I watched as her purple head left to another part of the train, likely fix her makeup and adjust her wig. What capitol people always so ... oblivious? Bubbly? Ignorant? Shaking those thoughts out of my head, I walked over to my temperary room. As much as I tried to get used to the fancy and expensive designs of the capitol, this room blew me away.

It took up the space of my room, my parents' room, the kitchen and the living room. Basically, my whole house. Two queen sized beds laid against the furthest wall, a mahogony dresser not far from it and everything was covered in red, gold and purple.

To be honest, it was a little overwhelming. As nice as these rooms were, I longed for my own back in 12.

Still, I didn't have any issues with the master bathroom. That was a pleasure. I'd never had a shower before. In 12, you normally had to heat up water, fill a tub, and even then, it was nearly as lovely as running water. The other option was to go out into the woods and find a small pond or something.

Actually, that's what I prefered to do and it had helped me get used to the cold, but none the less, a shower was heaven. There were at least a thousand buttons to choose from, like cool, warm, hot, boiling, neutral, very warm and more. Then, there were dozens of shampoos, conditioners, soaps, towels and perfumes.

I ended up smelling like a strawberry farm when I was done. Did I mention that the dressr had just about every piece of clothing, in every color of every style? No? Well, it did and more. I chose a light blue t-shirt and some woodsy brown shorts. Finally, I tied my hair back into a side pony tail. Still, that didn't stop a few strands from fall out, so I tucked them behind my ear, as usual.

Figuring it was almost an hour since I'd seen Effie, I headed over to the dining room. No one was there yet, except for a lady with many dishes coming over. She looked like she had her hands full, so I lifted two of the many plates into my own hands. The lady frowned and quickly shook her head, but I just smiled and set them on the table. She set the rest beside them and gave a little curtsie to me.

'_It's fine. Don't worry about it._' I signed before I could realize. Her eyes widened. Surprisingly, it was in confusion, but in amazement. It almost looked like she was interesting in my signing.

Before I could sign another word, the others arrived. The older girl quickly opened the dishes and hurried to stand just infront of the wall, away from everyone. Clearly, she was allowed to partake in dinner. The thought lessened my mood and I took my seat with the others. I sat beside Rusell and Effie, across from Katniss.

Haymitch was furthest from me, which I considered an advantage for me if he started getting drunk. Still, he looked sober at the moment.

"Feel free to have whatever you like!" Effie smiled, breaking the silence. She and Haymitch began to eat through their first plates of food, but I hesitated. There were so many different utensils and I wasn't sue which was the correct one to begin with.

Katniss seemed to notice my pause because she gripped the fork furthest to her left and moved it over to her salade plate. I copied her move and did so for the rest of dinner.

The food turned out to be delicious. Warm rolls, several different soups, broccolli, asparagus, chicken wings, ham, steak, mashed potatoes with gravy and rice. There were others too, but I was full to the brim before I could even dare to look at them.

I ate more than I ever had before and ended up feeling a bit queasy. In district 12, you were used to this much food in weeks. Not to mention, it was at least five times richer than the normal too.

"So," Effie began, once everyone was finished. "Lynnia, your mentor will be Katniss and Russell, your mentor will be Haymitch." Once again, I frowned as she said my full name. I didn't like how she said it in her fancy accent. "If you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to retire for the night."

After she left, Katniss and Haymitch shared a glance before looking at us again. Silence. Surprisingly, Russell was the one to speak up first.

"So, any advice?" he asked, eyeing his mentor.

"Stay alive, princess." Haymitch muttered. Russell scowled at his nickname. The older mentor's eyes flickered to me. "What about you tiny? Any questions?"

I shrank in my seat. They wouldn't understand me. Haymitch waited for the answer that never came, worsening my mood.

"Talk." he commanded. I move my lips to try and form words, for the millionth time, but nothing came out. "Can't you speak?" I shook my head and stared at my reflection in my glass of water.

"You can't talk or you just don't want to?" a new voice asked. I stared into the gray orbs of Katniss's eyes. She didn't pity me or sound annoyed. In fact, she simply seemed curious. That hadn't happened since I met Ash. Just to prove it, I pinched my arm with a litttle force. My mouth went to yelp, but no sound came out.

It was quiet for a while, until Haymitch burst into laughter.

"I like this one!" he snickered. "Not a loud mouth and listens! The only question is how she does with surviving." His tone turned a little serious at the end. Katniss scowled at him and abruptly left the table. I bit my lip, something Ash had pointed out that I do when I'm nervous or worried.

Not quite knowing what to do, I stood up and nodded as politely as I could to Haymitch and Russell, then left the room too. I wasn't trying to copy Katniss or anything, but the way she'd helped me with dinner made me feel a little more assured that I could trust her. Not to mention, Gale seemed to care about her, since he wanted me to deliver a message. Anyway, with Katniss gone, I was a little hesitant about being with Haymitch and Russell.

I headed back to my room and knocked on the door, unsure of what I was going to do. Katniss eyed me as I poked my head through. Did she know that we were staying in the same room? I wasn't sure.

"You can come in." she told me. I nodded and went over to my bed. My hands moved to sign, but I stopped them. It would do me no good here.

Katniss noticed my discomfort and went out of the room, returning with a piece of paper and a pencil. She placed them into my hands.

"How come you can't speak?" The question didn't surprise me, as I'd explained it many times. Taking the pencil, I quickly wrote down an answer, feeling a sense of deja vu. I'd done the exact same thing at the Hob this morning.

'I became a mute when I was seven.' I wrote. She read it, but still looked a little confused. 'It was when my sister died. My family went into a bit of a depression and I lost my voice.' That cleared things up a little. I ended up telling her all about my life in 12. It felt strangely comforting to tell someone. Ash alread knew everything there was to know and I never liked to tell Willie the bad things.

Katniss told me about her life too. How she lost her dad when she was 11 and how she hunted with her best friend Gale. I wanted to tell her about Gale's message, but didn't. Now wasn't the right time. She also told me how she won the games and Peeta's death. I felt bad for Katniss. It was horrible to witness so many deaths.

Still, she also looked glad to get it off her chest and even smiled a little bit when I offered to show her some sign language.

Just before we went to bed, I wrote down another question.

'What's going to happen tomorrow?' Katniss turned off the light and laid in her bed.

"We're going to the Capitol and you will be ambushed by crazy reporters." With that lovely idea in mind, we went to sleep.


	6. Life or Death Deal

**I was going to make this chapter about Lyn meeting her stylist and the opening ceremony, but this little idea popped into my head. Let me know if you like it!**

Katniss woke me up the next morning, which was strange. Sleeping in for me wasn't a normal thing (although this was the second day in a row now). I guess I really wore myself out after everything that happened yesterday. It still shocked me that I was a tribute, but the shock wasn't nearly as bad as yesterday.

"Morning." she greeted me. "Come on before Effie comes to wake us up. She can be a little ... loud." I silently yawned and nodded, getting out of bed. After another lovely shower, I dressed into a pale green t-shirt and jean capris. Once I was all ready, we headed over to the dining room again. Well we almost did, but were interrupted by Effie's overly excited voice.

"Come on, it's going to be a big big day!" she cheered loudly. Her purple headed shifted to me. "Lynnia, are you excited to see the capitol?"

'_Lyn!_' I signed, frustrated. It didn't matter if she couldn't understand. Sign language was how I spoke my mind and my mind was screaming to be called Lyn. I was growing to hate the way the capitol said my name in their annoying accent more and more. Still, I did my best to keep a calm face. Nothing was going to change.

"Lyn." Katniss spoke, surprising the both of us. I was impressed by how quickly she'd caught on to sign language. She knew most of the alphabet already. "She prefers to be called Lyn, Effie." The escort frowned for a moment, before another smile appeared on her lips.

"I'm sorry Lyn dear, why didn't you tell me?" I mentally face palmed. Never had not being able to speak been so ... _annoying_.

"She's a mute. She can't speak." My mentor told her. I mouthed a silent thank you to her.

"That's terrible! I thought she was just being shy." Effie gasped. I guess not being able to talk would've been like a death sentence for her. Anyway, breakfast was delicious. There weren't as many forks and knives to puzzle over and quite a few of them were finger foods.

I think my favorites were the apple turnovers and the strawberries. Still, the croissants, pancakes, waffles, breakfast biscuits, eggs, toast, sausage and orange juice all came in pretty close seconds. Once again, Russell and I found ourselves a little green from taking in so much wonderful food.

Once Haymitch came to breakfast, Katniss glared at him. I could clearly tell she must have spoke to him about something earlier.

"I like my method better." he told her, finding some interest in the ham, sausage and pancakes.

"At least _try_ to help." she insisted. The older mentor sighed and rolled his eyes.

"You were an exception, sweetheart. Not everyone is like you."

"Maybe they could be if you helped more often." Katnis fired back. Russell and I glanced at each other nervously. We didn't need a war between mentors right before we entered the Capitol. Effie seemed to be happily ignoring this, saying that she had some important arrangements to see to for my interview since I could talk. What an excuse.

"You're just trying to avoid the inevidable." His voice rose a little, making me inch back in my chair. He whipped his finger over to Russell. "Do you honestly think they're going to win? You were a one in a million chance. That's not going to happen for a while and these two aren't the slightest bit of fighters!"

Katniss's eyes shot daggers. Mine hardened. I normally tried to avoid these fights. I hated being around angry and loud people. I was nervous around Haymitch's anger, but his words stung. Did anyone honestly expect me to make it past the bloodbath? Was I the only person in the Capitol who thought I might possibly have a shot at getting to the final eight like Rosa?

I quickly signed at them. Hamitch looked at me like I was crazy.

"She can't even talk. What makes you think she'll last ten minutes in the arena." I signed again. This time, Katniss saw.

"Because that's her greatest advantage." she told him. "That's what she signed."

The older mentor paused for a moment, eyeing me carefully. His gaze turned to Russell.

"What can you do?" he sighed.

"I do alright with spears." the boy replied. Haymitch turned back to me. I stood up and made an archer's stance.

"bow and arrows?" he guessed, only to receive a nod. Turning back to Katniss, he smirked. "Fine. Let's make a little deal out of this." Her eyes widened and she looked vicious.

"Are you crazy? Two kids' lives are on the line and you want to make bets over it! You're almost as bad as the Capitol!" she almost yelled. Thank goodness Effie was out of the room. Haymitch snickered, like she was missing an obvious point.

"You forget that their lives are going to be on the line anyway. And if you win this bet, I'll help every little tribute for the next five years." he smirked. She went silent, so he continued. "Look, if you can get at least one of them through the bloodbath, I'll start doing something productive." She pondered this for a moment, glancing at Russell and I.

"By something productive, it has to help them." she clarified. He hesitated, but then nodded.

"I'd start helping now if you told that Gabe guy you're madly in love with him-" he never got to finish his sentence before Katniss glared daggers at him and threw an ice cold cup of water at his face.

"It's Gale and I don't care about him that way." she growled. Wait a minute, Gale Hawthorne? I made a mental note to sign to Katniss about that later. After all, I promised Gale I would give her his message. I wasn't going back on that promise. He'd done so much for me.

"So do we have a deal?" the now soaking wet Haymitch asked, holding out his hand.

"Fine." she gripped his hand like a cobra.

"Alright then. Let's go." he grinned, wiping himself with a towel.

Katniss wasn't kidding when she said crazy reporters. There were dozens of them, swarming the train stop like bees to honey. It didn't help that they were mixed in with a bunch of capitol people. Just staring at them made my head spin. I felt my mentor take my hand and lead me through the crowd of chaos.

People were yelling, cheering, asking a million questions at once, trying to grab my hand and whisk me away. So many different colors, so many accents, all focused on me. I stuck close to Katniss, too nervous to do anything else.

It took forever until we reached the car that took us to the training center. I was so stunned from the crowd that I didn't even take the time to remember that I'd never been in a car. Oh well, I'd worry about that later.

'_That was insane._' I signed staring at the floor of the car, numb. Katniss sighed.

"Welcome to the Capitol."

So to clear things up, the deal is that if Katniss can manage to get Russel or Lyn to survive the blood bath, Haymitch will start actually being a mentor again. Sorry, not my best chapter, but the next ones should be a little better.


	7. Into the Capitol

**Alright, it took me a little longer than I thought it would to make this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. Now, the next few chapters will begin to introduce the tributes and I REALLY could use some ideas! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SEND ME A TRIBUTE! Include as many info as you see fit.**

Have you ever had a really rushed day, where things didn't go the way you thought at all? That was kind of what I felt, only on a much larger scale.

After the reaping, the train ride, the insane crowds of people and the car ride, I longed for something _normal_. I think that was why I stuck so close to Katniss, Haymitch and Russell. They reminded me of home. Gray eyes, olive skin, black hair. Even Russel, with his fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, made me think of district twelve.

I now knew the true meaning of home sick. I didn't belong here. I belonged in the woods of twelve, hunting down squirrels and other animals with my hunting partner.

_Ash_. I'd hardly thought about him since I left. Guilt settled itself into my stomach, but I brushed it away. Feeling bad wasn't going to get me any closer to him. Instead, my fingertips found the beautiful crystal pendant he'd given me.

Ash's last words to me lingered in my head. _Don't forget. Don't forget. Don't forget._

"Tiny!" Haymitch yelled. My headed jerked over to him, startled. Katniss was looking at me, her eyes both puzzled and slightly concerned.

"We're here." she told me. My district partner and his mentor opened the doors and headed out into the building. I was about to as well, but Katniss held me back for a moment. Making sure no camera's or anything were near, she spoke in a quiet voice.

"Your stylist and prep team are going to do things that you won't like, but you have to go with it. Do whatever they say." she paused for a moment considering what she'd said. "Unless it involves rearranging your bones." I almost mutely laughed, but her serious face made me stiffen. It wasn't a joke.

She led me down the halls and to a door marked 'District 12 Female Tribute' in light coal letters. I placed my hand over the doorknob, glancing over at my mentor. Receiving a nod, I took a breath and entered the room.

Now, I didn't know what to expect for a prep team. They were so rarely seen in the games and it wasn't like I knew I would become a tribute one day. Four overly excited, overly enthusiastic, overly dressed women surrounded me at once. If there was anything 'over', these girls had it.

"Hello! You must be our tribute Lynnia!" the first squealed, her voice rich in capitol accent.

"Her name's Lyn." I heard Katniss say before she had to leave. "She can't speak." Dozens of gasps were shared throughout the room, as well as 'How terrible!', 'Poor dear!', 'I can't even imagine not speaking, the horror!' and 'I wonder what Solon will do.'

I quickly learned who was who. It's kind of difficult when everyone talks at once though. Celestia's dark blue skin first caught my attention. Bright and shiny stars danced around her arms, legs, shoulders and created several patterns over her face. Her hair was platinum blonde with little shimmers and shines laced into it. She seriously looked like a piece of the night sky wrapped onto a person.

Sparkle and Dazzle were twins and looked exactly alike, except for their colors. Sparkle had light pink, shimmery skin, where Dazzle had lavender (she made it very clear to me that it was lavender, not purple). Everything about them was either pink or purple/lavender. Yes, this included their eyes!

Finally, there was Iris. A rainbow of colors splashd her hair and her eyes seemed more like a color wheel. However, her skin was still normal, as far as shades went. Still, I could've sworn I saw her shimmer a little what she was directly under the lights.

And so, the 'preparations' began.

I had at least five showers and two layers of skin scrubbed and wiped off of my body. Sparkle practically had a panic attack over my nails, saying that she'd never witnessed nails so short. I had. Lots of girls didn't grow their names out much in 12. There wasn't really a point to it.

Still, that didn't stop them from covering my fingertips in nail growth. Then again, neither didn't the faint tears in my eyes when they ripped every hair off of my body, save for my head. My eyebrows were plucked, although there wasn't anything wrong with them to begin with.

They also had me remove my clothes, something that took a long time of convincing to do. When they gave me a white robe, I practically snatched it from them and wrapped it around myself in less than five seconds. Still, they didn't look hurt. In fact, Iris smiled lightly as if she found my self consciousness adorable.

"I'll go get Solon!" she gleamed. The twins dragged me over to a mirror while she did that. I thought I looked the same, except more raw and bare. They thought I was ready for my stylist to see.

I was then seated into a comfy white leather chair. My prep team left me to my thoughts as I waited for my stylist, 'Solon'. Those minutes were spent praying that I wouldn't be surgically altered. Just the idea of it terrified me.

"Hello Lyn." a new voice spoke. Spinning around, I laid my eyes on a young man, no older than twenty. He amazingly didn't look like a normal capitol person and his accent was limited. I remembered that Katniss had mentioned something about how her mentor was like this too. His skin was fair and his hair was a dark gold. There was no way you could call it _dirty_ blonde.

"I'm Solon, your stylist." he smiled kindly at me. "But call me Sol." Sol was dressed in a simple dark gray t-shirt and some jeans. They were probably top of the line, but he still didn't look half as crazy as Sparkle and Dazzle. The only makeup he wore was a dark coal colored eyeliner.

I wanted to speak to him. Someone as kind and gentle as Sol seemed, deserved a reply. Disappoint must have faintly shown on my face because my new stylist noticed. He sat down in a chair beside me.

"This is my first time being a stylist, you know. Cinna mentioned that you were mute, but I honestly don't care." I glanced up at him. Sol didn't look like he was lying, something I'd quickly learned to detect in people. Especially when it was about my being mute. "I'm happy to be here and even more to be your stylist. So don't worry about not being able to speak. There's an old saying that actions speak loud than words anyway."

I couldn't help it. A small smile excaped from my lips. This only made him happier.

"Such a lovely smile too." he chimed. I tried to sign to him, but he didn't understand. Instead, Sol handed my a pad of paper and a blue pen.

'You're not going to surgically alter me, are you?' I wrote, nervously. He chuckled at my words.

"No, I would never do that. It would take away too much of your character and individual traits." he replied. "Besides, Cinna has taught me better than that."

'Cinna? You mean Katniss's stylist?' I jotted down on the paper.

"Yes, Portia is my aunt, you see. She and Cinna have been together for almost three years. He's the one who inspired me to be a stylist. They taught me everything I know." I could tell by the tone of his voice that Sol had great respect for Cinna. He stood up from his chair. "Now, could you please disrobe?" My eyes widened at his words. What did he say?

Once again, Sol read my thoughts.

"I mean you no harm or disrespect Lyn. This is only how we stylists inspect our tributes. See what we have to work with and what designs will be best." Sol assured me. "And if you like, you may go put some underwear on." The offer sounded like a blessing. Apparently, self consciousness in the Capitol was as limited as normal people. After changing into some underwear, Sol mearly glanced at me, walked around me once and allowed me to put my robe back on.

The prep team was called back in only a few minutes later.

"What would you like us to do Solon?" Iris asked, her voice full of happiness. They all seemed excited to help Sol. He turned to them with a different smile than what he'd given me. This face looked more business.

"Celestia, could you get the solar shine?" he asked her, only to receive an immediate nod and an 'of course, right away!'. "Sparkle, Dazzle, please bring my design and the dress. Iris, will you get started on Lyn's hair?"

"I memorized it as soon as you gave it to me, Solon." she grinned.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it." he replied as her led me to a salon like chair. Iris seemed flattered with his praise and quickly started on my hair, promising me that it would be amazing.

Everything was zoomed into fast forward again as my hair was finished into long waves, the final adjustments to the dress were made (although I had to wear a blind fold for that part) and my makeup was finished.

The leather strap of my necklace was replaced with a silver chain, but Sol promised me he'd hold onto it for after the opening ceremony. He said that if it made me more comfortable, then he would not get rid of it. His kindness made me feel a little more at ease.

Before I went to the opening ceremony, Sol had me stand in front of a mirror to see if there was anything I wanted changed. When I looked at my reflection, I gasped silently.

I'd never really tried to look pretty before. There was never much of a point in district 12. The most I ever did with my hair was have Rosa play around with it when she was alive. She loved to braid my hair, curl it, put it up. Since we didn't have many hair tools, we really just used a brush.

You should've seen her reaction when she found out that my hair dried wavy after being in the water. Still, that was when I was five. When I went hunting, I normally pulled it back into a ponytail to keep it out of the way, but that was about it.

Sol was a professional. My hair was down in long, loose waves, lightly sprinkled with sparkles that faintly dazzled in the light. My dress was amazing. It was a dark gray spaghetti strap dress that flowed down to my ankles. It too was glazed in light sparkles. My makeup wasn't too much either, just some shimmery gray eyeshadow, light pink lip gloss and a little accenting of certain parts of my face.

I don't think Sol was expecting the hug I gave him, but he smiled all the same. Dazzle and Sparkle oogled at their work, going on and on about how the solar shine was was going to be great. I looked to my stylist, curious about this 'solar shine'.

"It's this stuff I've been working on. A long time ago, people used solar energy to make things work." he explained. "So after tampering with it a little bit, I got it so the shine with sparkle at a certain heat." My eyes widened, but I didn't even have time to even think about how that would work or about that 'certain heat'. We reached the chariot in no time. Russell was already there, dressed in a dark gray tux and a lightly sparkled top.

Surprisingly, Katniss and two others were there. They all smiled when they saw me.

"Hello, you must be Lyn." the man spoke gently and friendly. I noticed how he and the woman, like Sol, didn't have strong accents and were dessed pretty normally. The man had dark brown hair, gold eye liner that brought out a little bit of gold in his green eyes and was dressed in a simple black shirt and pants. "I'm Cinna."

"And I'm Portia." the woman introduced herself. Her hand was in Cinna's.

"Cinna." Katniss seemed a little worried. "You're sure this will work?"

"Of course. It worked with your opening ceremony, didn't it?" he ginned. "Fire is so exciting." Russell and I stared at him, not sure if we'd heard correctly. Fire? Sol helped me as I nervously went onto the chariot beside Russell.

Together, Sol on one side, Cinna on the other, they set the chariot on Fire! Strangely, it only lit on certain parts of the chariot, but I could still feel the faint heat behind me.

"Don't worry. It's just cinthetic fire! Smile and wave!" Cinna encouraged us. I did my best to look calm as we were brought into the city. Thousands of rows of people coated the sides, all amazed at the fire. Cheers break out and I realized that the fire was making my dress sparkle brightly, shimmering happily as the district 12 black horses carries the chariot further and further into the Capitol.

I did as Cinna told me to, smiling and waving. Once, I even blew a few kisses. That sent the crowd leaning out of their seats, trying to catch my kisses. Someone tossed a rose into the chariot and I caught it, pausing.

_I hope you're proud, Rosa._ I sign with my free hand, but low enough so the people don't see.


	8. The Training Center

**Hey! Sorry about not updating in a while, but with my other two stories, school starting soon and everything else, I haven't really had the time. But enough excuses. I got a PM asking for longer chapters. If you guys want it, that's what I'll do ... starting next chapter. This is basically just a filler chapter for inbetween the opening ceremony and the training sessions, so it's not that long. Thanks for the reviews and constructive critisism (did I spell that right?) so far and I'll work on updating sooner. Oh yeah, REVIEW PLEASE! AND I NEEEED TRIBUTES FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER!**

We arrived at the Training center about an hour or two later.

"You were excellent." Sol smiled warmly at me as he helped me get off the chariot. "The crowd loved you."

Cinna thought that we pulled off the fire nicely with Sol's solar shine. That was good. Maybe I would even be able to get a few sponsors. District 12 rarely got them, though Katniss's year had been an exception. Her star crossed lovers angle attracted sponsors like mockingjays to music.

First step of the Hunger Games done. Unfortunately, that still left training, final scores and interviews before the real trouble even start. I felt my optimism decrease even more as I realized that there was so much more to do. The Opening Ceremony itself had been exhausting. I had no idea what I was getting into.

Back in the changing room, my prep team helped me get out of my dress and into a light blue silk shirt and some dark brown capris. Feeling more comfortable in the clothes I was wearing, I followed Katniss to the Training center.

This building was the largest one yet. It stood dozens of stories high with the most expensive and rich furniture. There, I learned about something amazing.

Elevator rides.

I'd never ridden in an elevator before. The idea that a little room could zoom up stories just by the press of a button seemed impossible, but there I was with Katniss, riding all the way up to the district twelve level.

There were many floors in the building and each one had a button on the elevators. The first floor was where the stylists and prep teams worked after the open ceremonies were done. Sol told me that if I ever needed anything, all I had to do was call him on the phone in my room or just head down to his work place on the first level.

The next floor was mainly a supplies floor. Katniss explaind to me that it was where large shipments of training items were brought, like weapons, dummies and other equipment. It was also where the kitchen was.

The third floor was the training center, but tributes weren't allowed to look at that until tomorrow. Finally, the last 12 floors were for the tributes. Each district had its own level. One was the fourth floor. Twelve was the top. Our floor, like the train, had been layed in the most expensive decor. It probably sounded crazy, but I missed the woods.

Everything was unfamiliar here. The colors, the people, the sounds. There was no scent of trees and forestry, just dozen upon dozen of perumes that coated every square inch of the building.

I tried to go straight to bed right then and there. The capitol wore me out within minutes. Katniss insisted that I at least have dinner. It was the reasonable thing to do. I wouldn't be getting an of this fancy food of my choosing once I was in the arena. That, and the food was delicious. Still, food always tasted better when you personally, had shot, skun, gutted and cooked it with your best friend.

I mentally groaned and gleamed at the same time. Everything really did go back to Ash. That was both pleasant and upsetting. Pleasant, because he was my friend, my partner who I'd done everything with and it was nice to keep him in my mind.

Upsetting, because I couldn't run to him right this moment. Because he was probably worrying himself sick, yet trying to looking strong all at once. And it was completely. My. Fault.

Dinner seemed to go on for what seemed like forever. I'd had as much food as I could hold down, on Katniss's request. One of the many foods I'd come to like was sorbet. It was almost like ice cream, except more fruity. Sorbet came in all sorts of colors and flavors.

If I ever survived the games, I was going to sit on my porch, Willie on one side, Ash on the other and we were all going to have some delicious sorbet together. That was my hope.

After a very uneventful meal (which didn't bother me the least. I loved the missing scream and yells that Effies and Haymitch usually offered), I went up to my room. Taking out a piece of paper, I began to write down what Gale had told me. If he wanted Katniss to hear them, she would.

_Katniss,_

_Gale Hawthorne told me to tell you this:_

_I'm not your cousin. You need to stop pushing yourself. Peeta died for you to have a better life, not to torture yourself over him. I miss hunting with you. It's not the same. Most importantly, I miss you, every minute of every day._

Although I wasn't quite sure what happened between Katniss and Gale, I knew it was important and emtional. Just to see Gale's eyes soften like I did is enough proof for that case. I don't remember a lot of Katniss's games, I remember that she was the only one in history to be a star crossed loverand a victor from the games. I'd also heard from Rosa that he 'star crossed lover' had been Peeta and he died killing the last career.

So, Katniss wasn't a stranger to death either. Dread filled my chest. To lose someone you cared about hurt, a lot. It had been seven year since Rosa's death and it still stung like it was last week.

"Hey." Speaking of Katniss...

'_Hi_' I signed to her. My eyes didn't miss the paper and pencils she had in her arms.

"I was wondering if you'd teach me some more of that sign language." she said, staring at her feet. I didn't know why, but whenever she seemed to take an interest in me, I felt happy.

Smiling, I nodded to her and we both sat down. I taught her how to read sign language more that how to sign, but she caught on to both quite well. We went over names, plants and objects mostly. By the time the lesson was up, Katniss recommended I go to bed, as tomorrow was going to be a another day of work.

'_Katniss_?' I signed. She looked at me, waiting for me to continue. _'What should I do, at the training session?_'

"Don't worry about that." she told me, picking up the papers. "Just don't show your strengths. Work on things that you know you're not good at and stay under the radar of the careers. I'll tell you more in the morning. Goodnight." I signed goodnight to her as well and went to bed, suddenly exhausting with everything again.

Tomorrow I would meet the tributes. The kids who I would possibly kill or the kids who would possibly kill me.


	9. And the training begins

**Sorry about the delay. I wrote an longer chapter as an apology! I'll try to update sooner, but with school and everything, well you know how it goes. You mean to get this chapter in today. It turned into next week, then next month... Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please let me know if you have any ideas or contructive critism. Or just plain reviews. lesson one: I LOVE REVIEWS!**

In school, being a mute isn't fun. In fact, it's down right terrible. Before Rosa's death, I had a few close friends that I'd hang out with during classes and lunch. We never really did much outside of school, but it was nice to play with some other kids when I couldn't see Rosa. Once I became mute however, people began to talk. They wondered why I never spoke anymore.

Eventually, I began to get teased about it. Only a little. It was just innocent teasing. I was strange and it was something to do. Still, it wasn't like I could tell them to stop or even rat them out to a teacher (not that I'm a tattle tale). Eventually, I came to accept it. It wasn't like they made it their life goal to ruin my day. They teased me when I walked by or when they were especially bored. I never told anyone about it. Well, I couldn't, but you get the point.

Then, I met Ash. I'd noticed him at school before, but we never talked (or signed in my case). After that day in the woods, school changed a lot. It was one of my first truly happy memories after the death of Rosa.

_I was walking home from school when I saw this group of kids from my class show up. One of the boys, Russell Irving, was in the lead, laughing and talking with some others. _

_"Hey, I dare you two to go into the woods!" He yelled, pointing to me and a boy who had also just been leaving. Naturally, I frowned and shook my head. I was only nine and there were adults in the district who were afraid to go into the woods. Besides, I needed to get back to Willie. _

_Still, they led us to the fence. Two of the kids were on look out to make sure no peacekeepers were near. _That_ would've ended terribly with we were caught._

_"Come on," Russell called, frowning at us. He never was quite patient. _

_"Don't be babies!" another hollered. One of them tugged me over, a bit hard. Seeing no other option, I slid through the hole in the fence and into the woods of twelve. It wasn't as terrifying as everyone described it to be. In fact, it was almost calming. The tall Oak trees, the fallen logs and mossy ground. It couldn't have been all that bad. But you'd have to have been a fool not to know the dangers of the woods. There were rogue mutts, tracker jackers, wolves and who knew what else. Still, I liked the woods and couldn't help but take a few more steps._

_The boy followed me. His eyes were on the way we'd came. Was he scared? Did he want to go back? Any normal kid would have. I guess I wasn't normal then, but I'd already known that really._

_"They should be gone in a little bit." He told me, his eyes lingering on the bushing we'd entered from that happened to hide the fence. This boy _wasn't_ scared. Maybe he was different too. He turned back to me and I was suddenly taken back by his eyes. Not the normal Seam gray. Silver. They weren't exactly like Rosa's sparkle eyes, but it'd been so long since I'd seen someone with eyes just slightly different from the usual gray. _

_We stared at each other, taking the other in. He had dark brown hair and the usual thin frame. _

_"What's your name?" he asked, curious. There was no small talk with him. As always, I signed. He didn't understand. Then again, I didn't really expect him to either. Who would? "Can't you speak?" I shook my head, frowning. Then, an idea popped into my head. One I'd actually never had before._

_I knelt down to the dirt and traced down a message into it with my fingertips. It basically said: My name is Lynnia, but call me Lyn. The boy looked down at my reply, and turned to me._

_"I'm Ash." he replied, holding out a hand. I took it graciously with a small smile on my face. Ash didn't seem at all bothered by my lack of speaking. In fact, he didn't treat me even the slightest bit different! _

_We started to walk through the woods, him talking and me occasionally kneeling down to reply. I discovered that Ash was ten and I wrote about how I'd always wondered about the woods._

_"I go a lot." he replied, his hands in his pockets as he stared at the woods around him. The boy didn't seem the least bit scared by the nature around him either. In fact, he showed less fear than some of the men who went into the woods, to the field to pick fruit in the spring time. A light smile played on his lips. "My dad taught me how. He can't go much this week, but I'm keeping an eye on his traps until he can. He's been taking me for a few years now and he even taught me how to hunt. We do everything together." _

_I couldn't help, but watch at how his head lifted just a little higher, his eyes gleam and his voice become full of pride as his talked about his dad. It was clear that they spent a lot of time together. This almost reminded me of my own relationship with Rosa._

_'My sister was always curious about the woods.' I wrote in the dirt. He read the message and looked back up to me. _

_"Well, now you can tell her what it's like, I guess." He told me. I frowned and shook my head. No, I couldn't. Not now. I'd never get to talk to Rosa again. Ash gave me a puzzled look._

_'She died two years ago.' I scribbled onto the ground. It still hurt to talk about her. Those memories still so painful. I thought of her everyday. _

_"Oh." He frowned, looking away. That was all he said, nothing more, nothing less. We fell into silence as we headed back to the fence. The sun was beginning to set as we slid through the fence. How long had we been in the woods? It had to be hours. I hoped my parents weren't getting too worried. My head turned to the direction of my home. _

_"Hey." Ash's voice made me pause and turn back to him. He bit his lip, a little hesitant. "I was wondering. Do you wanna come back? Tomorrow. I can show you some berry bushes." My eyes widened. He wanted me to come back? Did that mean he actually enjoyed having me in the woods with him? I beamed at him and I nodded. He smiled back at me and I waved as I left back to my house, happier than I'd been in the past two years. And it was all because of Ash O'Riley._

Even now, I smiled at the memory. It was one of my favorites. Ash and I began to spend all of our time together after that. I honestly don't know how I would've been if I hadn't met the boy in the woods. My hunting partner. My best friend.

Still, that had been when we were nine and ten. I was fourteen now and Ash wasn't going to be here as I faced twenty three kids who really did want to kill me. I took a breath and calmed myself. Fear would be the first thing the careers looked for. The easy fun kills during the bloodbath. I was not going to be on their target list.

"Remember don't show your strengths. Focus on your weaknesses and don't make anyone notice you." Katniss told me again before we headed down. "Keep an eye on the others too. Good luck." I nodded to her and we headed down to the training session. Haymitch would be coming with Russell in few minutes as well.

When we arrived at the training center, they had us wait at the door for everyone. Katniss told me she'd see me later and left, giving me one more worried glance before Haymitch came down with Russell. We glanced at each other momentarily, since we were the first two here. Silence.

The elevator opened again after a few minutes, revealing two moretributes with their mentors from Eleven. One was a small boy with brown hair and matching eyes. He had a happy smile on his face at the sight of more people. My blood went cold. Was he actually a tribute? He was so young, so innocent. How could the capitol force a little boy like that to fight in the Games?

I turned my focus to the girl. She was a little older than me, though we both had pale skin. Her eyes were silver, but they weren't like Ash, Rosa or Willie's. Then again, every pair of eyes were a little bit different. Hers were more metallic. Raven black hair swept down to her waist and her arms were crossed. She wasn't as happy as the boy, more refrained. Still, that was to be expected in the Games. A normal reaction. I could tell this girl wasn't going to go down so easily.

"Hi, I'm Mario." the boy grinned at me, hyper and bouncy. I gave a light smile to him. "What's your name?" I signed to him, but I knew he wouldn't understand even before I saw his confused expression. This was going to be more difficult than I thought.

"Her name's Lynnia." Russell mumbled, keeping his eyes to the ground. "She can't speak." I hated the way that was said, not that I blamed Russell. There was nothing that could be done. That was how things went. I probably should've been grateful to him even helping me.

"Oh." he frowned. "That stinks." I nodded. More people showed up and Mario began to introduce himself over and over with the same enthusiasm each time. I worried about how he would do in the Games. Please don't let him be killed brutally, I hoped.

"Alright, here's how training is going to." the lead trainer began once we were all here and all the mentors had finished giving last minute advice to their tributes.

"You are going to practice whatever you choose and will have a thirty minute lunch break at one. You will continue training and your mentors will pick you up for dinner at six.  
>Now here are the rules. You are not allowed to train on each other, nor are you allowed to inflict harm on any other competitors, including yourself. Also, you are not allowed to leave the training center until six. Any violation of these rules will result in severe punishment. Begin training."<p>

Basically, there were various training spots around this large, gymnasium of a room. There was a healing class, an archery course, plant identification, swimming, fire starting, trapping, knot tying, combat stations, weight lifting, spear throwing, swords and water conservation. If something was capable of helping you in the Games, this place had it. I remembered what Katniss had said. Don't show your strengths.

I decided to start at trapping. I wasn't too skilled in that, but I wasn't a failure either. A good way to start. It was just me and the district eleven girl for the trapping class. The trainer seamed happy with us showing up to his first class. He taught us a simple trap for game. We both nailed it. Ember, the girl with me, had it done in about the same time as I had. Ash had taught me well in basic traps for game. I wasn't sure how Ember had learned, but she seemed to be looking curiously at me.

We didn't say anything, but I didn't mind it. After the class, Mario bounced over to her.

"Hey Ember to you wanna practice knot tying with me?" he ask, his eyes full of hope. The older tribute sighed, defeated. She obviously didn't mind him.

"Sure." she mumbled, following the hyper spurt of energy to the station. I considered following them, but I wasn't really in the mood for knot tying. The archery course gleamed with wonder in my eyes. The bows in the Capitol were bound to be specially crafted, probably with better aim than my own. Despite my love for my personal bow, I yearned to test them. To try out the numerous target and fling few straight at that target.

But I couldn't. It was against Katniss's advice and would surely expose my greatest secret. I frowned and walked away.

I went to swimming next. There were six lanes. The two district four kids were owning up the others, having been there since we came in. I switched into a swimsuit and went into the unoccupied sixth lane. I liked the water. It was calm, relaxing and a good way to exercise, though that was never really a problem in twelve.

There was a small pond Ash and I had found in the woods. Well, I showed him. Not many people in District 12 know how to swim, so I ended up teaching him. Let's just say it's quite interesting to follow instructions from a mute. After a long day, we trudged back home, completely soaked.

A bell sounded, signifying that it was time for lunch. After drying off and switching back into my regular clothes, I headed over to the small lunch space that had been set up for us.

Six tributes dominated one of the tables, glaring at everyone else. Clearly the careers. One extremely strong and serious boy sat alone at a table, though it porbably wouldn't be a good idea to go near him. Ember and Mario sat by the two district three tributes. I searched for a place to sit. A girl with light brown hair and green eyes gave me a small smile and and nudged to the spot next to her.

I sat down beside her and another girl, one with short red hair that fell a an inch or two short of her shoulders along with matching brown eyes.

"Hi, I'm Heather." The brunette gave me another warm smile. I turned to the redhead.

"Rayna." she replied with a playful smirk on her face. "What's yours?" Biting my lip, I signed. Again, two confused looks and neither of them understood. Rayna tilted her head slightly. "What's the matter? Can't ya speak?" I shook my head, frustrated.

"Lyn." Heather mumbled. We both stared at her, surprised. She simply shrugged. "I took sign language as an extra course in school. My mom... well, she couldn't speak either."

"Oh well, at least now there's no way you can bug my ear off. Some of these guys won't shut it." Rayna told us. "I don't blame the little ones, but come on, have some sense of survival." We picked through our meal while I listened to them.

Rayna was the oldest of three back in district seven. Her dad worked in the lumber company while her mother took care of her twin brothers. She liked to climb in her spare time and fling knives for target practice. She volunteered when her best friend was reaped.

Heather was an only child, but had always wanted siblings. She grew up in district nine with her aunt and uncle, since they had no children. Heather actually had a talent for spears and wasn't too bad at a bow and arrow.

"What really irks me is how those careers flash everything they have at us, just hoping to strike fear before the Games have even started." Rayna groaned. "Big egoed idiots."

"Hey, that does give us an advantage, right?" Heather replied, trying to stay hopeful. "We can figure out their strengths." I nodded at her statement. We leaned in a little closer and shared the information we had. I didn't say much, since well, I couldn't, but I'd gather a good amount of understanding on most of the tributes.

There wasn't a lot of stuff we could figure out about them yet, but it was still just the first day. All I knew was that I had made my first two friends in the past four years. And I liked it.


	10. And the training continues

**Hey people of fanfiction! I finished my chapter early and posted it just for you! I've been trying to add in more flashbacks for you guys (and girls) to get a good picture on Lyn's life and her relationship with Ash. They've really been through a lot together. So, about two or three more chapters until bloodbath, because we still have the private sessions, the interviews and maybe another chapter about Katniss finding Lyn's note from Gale. Also, I'm really sorry I haven't been writing as much as I've said I would. I've bitten off more than I can chew and I'm just going to focus on this story for now. One at a time seems to be working a little better. Please let me know if there's anything I can improve on, because I have one wish at the moment. I would like some REVIEWS please. Tell me whether you liked it, if you didn't, any ideas or even just an update soon. Anything! Every review I get just makes me happier and more motivated to write the next chapter, so please WRITE REVIEWS! Anyway, thanks for those who have reviewed and enjoy the chapter!**

I signed to Katniss about yestday during dinner. She payed close attention to this, analyzing every detail. The next morning, she'd come up with an idea.

"You're sure you can trust them. Rayna and Heather?" she asked, her eyes deep in thought. I considered it. I'd only known them for a few hours, and despite that happiness I felt with them, I had to be careful. One wrong assumption or little error could cost me my life.

_'I'm pretty sure.' _I assured her. She nodded as we ate ate our breakfast, probably immersed in strategies. Katniss was quite clever and I was happy to have her as my mentor.

"Alright. Heather is from district nine and Rayna's from district seven." she replied opening the book of tributes. Each mentor had one that revealed some basic information about the tributes. Not the strengths or personality, but age and stuff. It was the first step to figuring out your allies and enemies. "Make sure you don't give away your real advantages though, just in case. I want you to figure out your enemies today, alright? The definite ones to avoid."

I agreed with he as we finished our meal. Haymitch and Russell joined us a few minutes later, obviously having woken up a little later. We carried out the day as usual. Well, as usual as it could be with two district twelve mentors and two tributes, one of them being mute.

I found myself anxiously awaiting to see Rayna and Heather again. Rayna had a certain spunk to her and Heather was unbelievably kind. In fact, the redhead was waiting for us when we showed up.

"Come on! My hands are just itching to fling some of those throwing knives!" she called, motioning for us to follow her. As we proceeded to the target practice, I forced my eyes away from the finely polished bows that we just waiting for someone to use. Rayna was busying herself with all the weaponry. "Bronze. Silver. Steel. These knives are freaking awesome!"

She took five steel knives and got into a sidestance, loading back her right arm. Mere seconds later, five knives stuck into the dummy, one of which had cut the rope that held it up. Glancing around, Rayna noticed that we were the only ones watching. Good. She had to much talent to let the careers take advantage of.

Heather had her eyes locked on the large selection of spears and staffs. Choosing an fine Oak spear with a spikey tip, she launched it into the target.

"You got a talent?" Rayna turned to me, her bronze eyes curious. I shrugged and signed. Heather blinked a few times.

"A little." she translated and tilted her head with a smile. "Well, what's your talent?"

Putting a finger to my mouth, I smiled when it reached their understanding. They then knew that I'd be keeping it as a secret.

"That's actually a good idea." Heather replied, her hands sliding down a spear. "It'll keep the careers off your back until the Games actually start." Rayna playfully nudged me on the shoulder.

"I knew there was something I like about you. You're a clever one." she smirked. "and everyone knows you have to be clever to make it past the bloodbath, even more so to make it to the top eight. After that, it's just luck and creativity." I nodded. That was true.

Then, it made me wonder. How did Rosa plan out her strategy in the Games? She had to have had a plan if she made it to the final eight. Then, I remembered. She didn't put herself out in the open. She kept herself far from the others, except her allies of course. They waited out the games in an underground cave system.

It had turned into a problem when one of the mines collapsed, killing one of her allies. I remember being just glad that she'd made it out relatively unharmed. Still, she didn't show off or anything of that type. She had an evade and avoid method that worked out quite well. Would I do as well as she did? How much help had she gotten from her mentors? Probably less, since it was the year before Katniss. That was Johanna Mason's victory year. I was just glad she finished the district one boy off.

We went swimming, learned some simple knots and were finishing up our healing class. Rayna was having some difficulty with her patient dummy, her frustration beginning to emerge. Heather did alright, not outstanding, but not terrible either. As for me, I felt right at home.

When my mother was pregnant with Willie, Rosa taught me all sorts of things about the medical world. When Rosa mentioned how I had some good potential for being a nurse, my mother began to teach me as much as she knew, from illnesses to plants to resetting broken bones and stitching up wounds. Still, Rosa always seemed to make her lessons more upbeat and enjoyable. Still, I felt happy at how excited my mother looked when she learned I had a natural ability to heal.

"Hey, you're really good, Lyn." Heather smiled, watching as I wrapping the newly sewn stitches with bandages. Tight enough so they wouldn't fall apart, but loose enough as not to cause discomfort. One of my first lessons.

"Yeah, how did you get the stitches that even?" Rayna asked, leaving her hopeless dummy behind while she moved over to me. I grinned and shrugged, signing the word for practice.

"I'm surprised you're not from district six!" Heather replied, proud of my work. I almost blushed. I never got compliments like this from other people, with the exceptions of Ash, Willie and Rosa. Still, I don't remember the last time I was credited for my healing techniques. It was probably since the time Ash got hurt.

_Ash and I had decided to go after a deer. Venison was a beautiful rarity in 12. People payed huge prices at the Hob for it and the meat was simply delicious. Not to mention, venison could last a year without spoiling and still taste the same as the day you got it. Mixed with a couple of herbs and water, I could easily make a nice marinade for it. We'd seen the track, the scrapes and the bedding areas. Even the scat. So one morning, we woke up at four and headed straight into the woods. _

_Ash climbed up one trees as I headed into another. This gave us some different views and shots, in case the deer came out from an unexpected opening. And hour and a half passed before we heard the warning calls of the mockingjays and other woodland birds. Twenty minutes after that, we heard the snort. Five minutes later, Ash was already signaling that he could see it. Two minutes passed before he came into my view._

_It was a gorgeous buck, clearly not an adolesent, but still in his prime. I counted off two tips on each antler. A four pointer. He took long graceful strides as he lowered to the stream that lay in front of him. I'd have a clear shot in the next five yards._

_Three yards. My arrow was already notched to the bow, ready to whiz through the air as soon as I released._

_Two yards. I glanced briefly at Ash. He had a clear shot as well. This would be interesting._

_One. I close my left eye, aiming just behind the shoulder. Just as he'd taught me. I released my arrow._

_The deer bucked up in shock and ran as fast as his long thin legs would carry him. It didn't last long. He fell twenty yards away from where he was shot. Dead._

_Our grins were evident as we climbed back down to reach our victory. Normally, you wanted to wait an hour before searching for your deer, unless it was dead on impact or dead in plain sight. Ash leaned down to the fresh accomplishment, turning the deer on his side. Two arrows had struck the deer, both beside each other. If we were any more exact, it would have been a robin hood* (look at bottom to see meaning)_

_My best friend jumped up and yelled out his excitement, not caring if it scared the squirrels away. I didn't mind the slightest. If I could speak, I'd have been screaming until I went deaf. We'd shot a deer. A deer! One of the most valuable animals in the woods. _

_Ash wrapped me into a tight, excited hug and I did the same. This was one of our best hunting days yet. This deer, if proportioned right, could keep our families going for weeks. _

_"This is awesome!" he grinned from ear to ear. "Let's gut him out and put the meat in the freezer. Between yours and mine, we could probably fit him." I nodded and whipped out my knife. Gutting was a difficult duty, but Ash always said I had the strong stomach and steady hand for it. The guts would be excellent for our traps. The skin could be sewn with leather for a rug or a blanket, both worth huge amounts of money. The pointy bones could even be carved to make spearheads out of for our arrows. The possibilities were limitless._

_We'd ended up selling half the deer at the Hob, earning a nice profit from it that we divided amongst ourselves. The antlers were mounted onto a frame, where I placed it in my room. Ash got the deer rug, which proudly laid in his bedroom. Since his room was so small, it almost acted as a carpet. The meat was also divided between us and we marinated the first batch of it for our families the next day._

_We were too absorbed in our victory to remember that we had forgotten his quiver of arrows in the tree. The day after we'd gotten the deer was when he realized. I warned him to be careful as he climbed up. The weather was getting colder and the branches weren't too strong._

_"Relax, Lyn." he smiled at me. "They held up yesterday and they'll hold up today." Noticing was I was becoming a bit of a worry wart, I bit my lip and nodded, climbing up on the tree I'd used. Retrieving my arrows was easy, but I slipped on my way down. It was a good thing that I didn't slip very often and I only fell a few feet. Still, it was enough to make Ash turn and lose his own footing. _

_If he'd fallen on his head, he could've recieved a broken neck, brain damage or death. If he landed into the trees nearby or lost his arrows, he would've gotten impaled. __But Ash didn't get any of those things. He fell feet first into a thicket of throwns and brush we'd moved to climb up the trees._

_My first thought was that he was dead. My next thought was that he was an idiot. My final thought on the matter was that I was beyond relieved he was alive. __I rushed over to him, clearing out the thorns and branches in my way as fast as I could. When he saw my face, his lips formed a painful smile. _

_"Oops." he muttered. If the circumstances were different, I would've rolled my eyes and silently laughed. The sleeve of his upper arm was quickly turning ruby red and his right ankle turned out to be twisted. Pulling out our first aid kit that we kept just in case, I wrapped his ankle and stitched up his arm. It was a agonized process for the both of us, but we managed. Ash always seemed to have a special tolerance to pain. Despite how it hurt, he kept his eyes focused on me and how I fixed his injuries. _

_I helped him limp home that day, not caring about his insisting that I go home. And how dark it was getting. And how I'd already done enough. I ignored it all, except for one part._

_"You know, you've got the hands of a professional surgen." Ash had told me. "You fixed that wound up faster than my mom or yours could. You're amazing." I think I blushed that night, but thankfully, it was too dark to tell. _

_'If you ever scare me like that again, I'm going to beat you with this quiver.' I signed to him, handing my hunting partner his quiver and set of arrows._

_"I know." he grinned, none the less. Now I had to roll my eyes. Typical Ash._

_'You're to stay home until your ankle and your arm heal.' This took the grin off of his face completely. I hated disappointing him, but it'd kill me to seem him get even more hurt. This way, he'd heal up. Too bad Ash was never that easy._

_"Lyn, you know I have to hunt. Plus, I have a job." he groaned, sitting on his bed with his head in his hands. "I can't afford to stay in bed all day."_

_'I'll have it covered.' I signed, turning to Ally, who was six at the time. The little girl giggled and turned to her big brother, her big brown eyes full of excitement._

_"Lyn says I get to be the nurse! So, it's my job to make sure you stay in bed and get better!" she beamed, looking proud at her new premotion. Ash sighed and agreed to his 'doctor' and 'nurse'. I worked extra hard that week, hunting for two families, working half of Ash's shifts and over course, visiting him every day. I never let him know this though. Because if he did, he'd feel bad, get up, try to fulfill his duties and then hurt something even worse than a twisted ankle and a few bruises._

_He found out anyway. Being Ash, he had his way. Not to mention, he could read me like an open book. Still, by then, his injuries had pretty much healed and he was abled to go back to work._

_"I owe you, Lynnia Evers." he smiled, his eyes inches from mine. "I owe you a lot. And someday, someday I'm going to repay it all for you."_

I remembered how intent his eyes were, those familiar handsome gray orbs. How was he doing now? Had he hurt himself again? He always did push himself too hard for his family. Did he miss me like I missed him? My hand went to that spot on my cheek. Did he really love me?

"Lynnia Freaking Evers!" Rayna yelled, snapping me out of my thoughts. I whirled around to face my two friends. Rayna wasn't angry, apparently only wanting my attention. "You alright? You kind of zoned out on us."

_'Sorry.'_ I signed. _'I just have a lot on my mind. That's all.'_

_"_What are you thinking about?" Heather asked, her emerald eyes full of wonder.

_'Home._' I signed. That one word explained it all. We sat at our lunch table, each thinking about home.

"I know how you feel. I miss my little brothers like hell." Rayna frowned, her mind on her twin brothers, Jax and AJ. They were six and she missed them terribly. They always looked up to their spunky big sister and now she wasn't there anymore.

"I wonder how my Aunt Nina and Uncle Harry are." Heather pondered aloud. They adopted her, though she wouldn't talk about her real parents. They did everything together.

There was always that one thought that lingered, not matter where you went. Every single person who's ever been in the games had known the feeling. That you're missing something.

Home.

*** Note: A robin hood is a common saying with archer, meaning we shot one arrow right into another. Although it usually damages the arrow, it takes serious skill to do this. (I hope someday I will! ^_^)**


	11. The Fiery Private Session

**Sorry for the delay, but I have a terrible illness. It's known as writer's block. Symptoms include frustration, uncertainty and yelling at your computer creen to make you write better. Just kidding. There is a cure to this though and it's called REVIEWS!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

"Lyn, get up! It's going to be a big big day!" Effie yelled, placed just outside of my room. My ears stung with the excessively loud voice. Did she want me be to be deaf too?

I normally would've been up before anyone else, but yesterday had definitely worn me out. My two friends probably felt the same. You see, it happened during the second day of training.

Rayna had gotten bored during the second half of practice and scanned around the training center for something to interest her. That was when the red head saw that the combat station was empty, so she suggested we improve our fighting. Heather and I were a little hesitant, but it was probably going to happen sometime in the Games. Why not prepare while we could, right? No one seemed to be near the course at the moment, so we wouldn't have to worry about the careers.

I can explain everything that happened in one sentence.

We sucked.

Rayna was the best out of us, though she could only pass for average. That clearly annoyed her too. Heather hated direct fighting and it clearly was one of her weaknesses. As for me, I pretty much just ducked and blocked every strike. I liked the 'evade and avoid' method a lot better than the 'invade and punch the living daylights out of them' one. It was clear that we would definitely have a better advantage if we were attacking from a distance.

Still, this worried me. What would happen at the bloodbath? When we had no weapons to start with, only our hands and feet? The Cornucopia was sure to have amazing weapons and supplies that could keep people in the Seam going for weeks. Still, going there would be worse than suicide.

We worked on some basic maneuvers for one hour and spent the other on the track. If strength wasn't on our side, maybe speed could.

Last minute training had pushed us to exhaustion and I went to bed directly after dinner. Katniss hardly even got to question me about my day before I was out. She just smiled at me and said good night. I don't remember much else.

Turning to the clock, I realized that it was eight. The usual waking up time here was six thirty. I groaned and hopped into the shower, all while Effie kept pounding on my door. After selecting a pale blue tank top and some dark brown pants, I finished getting ready in about twenty minutes. No, it's not impossible to get ready in twenty minutes. I used to do it all the time when Ash and I went hunting. My record was twelve.

When I opened the door, it was Katniss waiting instead of Effie. I expected some sort of punishment for sleeping in, but she just gave a light smile which was becoming more and more common. She had a nice smile. Too bad that most of the capitol people made her scowl.

"Slept in I see?" She chuckled at my face as I looked to the ground. "You look so guilty. Come on, we have some work to do."

We arrived a little late to breakfast, but nobody seemed bothered by it. It passed quickly. Russell and I were speaking less and less. After all, the Games were getting closer and closer. It hurt to believe that Russell was probably going to kill me. We didn't necessarily like each other, but I couldn't think of any grudges against us.

Today was about the Private Sessions. Tonight would be the Interviews. Tomorrow was the Games. My knees went weak. I would be put on television for everyone to watch and hope I die so their tribute wins. This was all happening in the next twenty four hours.

Katniss noticed my nervousness. I was normally pretty good at hiding my emotions. But between the Games and having to hide it everywhere else, I guess they sort of overflowed around my mentor.

I never showed my anger. That was under control at all times. I'd learned that early on as a kid. No one needed me to be angry and no one wanted it. Therefore, why have it? Then again, I was rarely angry to begin with. No, the emotions that were the biggest were fear, hesitation and curiosity. Not exactly the best thing to feel if you want to win.

Hope was somewhere in my mind. Just not a major part right now and probably hidden by all the other feelings swirling around in my head. Taking a deep breath, I put on a calm face and listened to my mentor.

"Alright. Today's the Private Sessions. Haymitch and I have been thinking up the best weapon for you to use." she told me. "Something to wow the judges and give you an impressive score to make those sponsors go wild." I nodded. Did Katniss really think I had a talent that amazing? I wanted those sponsors and would definitely need them in the long run. No victor ever won without a good deal of them.

"I have a feeling that you're going to be best with your bow. That's why we're going to a private archery course." she explained. My eyes widened. A private archery course? My finger missed that beautiful bow of mine. Or any bow for that matter. I don't remember the last time I went so long without a one. It felt strange.

Apparently, Katniss had told the workers to make an archery course out of one of the district twelve rooms. They cleared out the storage yesterday and put up all sorts of targets. My mentor led me over towards two wooden bows. Normal. Untouched by the Capitol. Familiar. Handing one to me, Katniss pulled out a bucket of arrows.

"Shoot." she instructed. Notching the arrow onto the string, I did exactly that. The arrow hit the bulls eye, dead on. Katniss seemed slightly impressed. Handing me another arrow, she pointed to a further target. Thirty yards instead of twenty. Easy. This caused the same result. I loved the feeling of those arrows soaring past me. I was able to hit the target at the dead center up to forty yards. I was about an inch or two off at fifty. Sixty was a bit of a challenge and I was definitely low on that one by at least six inches.

"Ok, you're dead accurate." Katniss praised me, though I could tell she had more to say. "But accuracy isn't enough alone to impress the judges. You need to be creative. Do something no one would ever think of doing. Make the judges feel like they're in the Games." She explained to me that she had actually shot at the judges during her private session. My eyes widened. If she'd missed, there would have been a dead body and she would have become an avox. But she didn't miss. She was Katniss.

I spent the rest of that morning practicing on moving targets. Targets that were thrown at me. Targets that came from behind. Multiple attacks. It took me a little bit, but I was nailing them within the hour.

"Alright, take a break." Katniss decided. "You don't want to be too exhausted for this afternoon." We sat down and had a nice lunch, brainstorming up ideas for the Private Session. Finally, we agreed to one. It had never been thought of, let alone even attempted before, but Katniss was pretty confident I could do it. Me, not so much, but I had to at least try. If I died, well I guess I'd at least put on a good performance.

***(scene change)***

Nervous. That's what I was feeling right now. Anxious. Worried. Skittish. All of those words went back to the same thing. I reassured myself that I'd be fine, in the elevator. I told myself that I just had to follow Katniss's instructions and add my own personal touch to it, when the elevator reached to a stop.

There were twenty four chairs neatly lined up, twelve on one side and twelve on the other. I took my seat at the end of the line. I would be nice just for once to not be last. I wasn't begging to be first, but somewhere in the middle. It was well known that the gamekeepers never paid attention to the last districts.

As I waited a in seat for my turn, I decided to distract myself by going over what I'd learned about the tributes. The district one boy went into the training center first.

Jett Garnett. Career. He had a light tan and dirty blonde hair. His brown eyes were dark and hard to trust. Jett specialized in swords.

He walked out not long after, a satisfied smirk written over his face. Jett sat back down and Dia went in, but not before giving a flip of her golden blonde hair and an 'innocent' glance back at the boys.

Dia Monds. District one loved to name kids after their many riches. Since they sold luxury items, district one usually got the extras of whatever didn't sell in the capitol. According to Rayna, they were mini capitol minions, pets eager to please their masters. I was starting to realize that maybe she was right.

Tributes went back and forth through the training center. I watched as Heather and Rayna took their turns, both coming back with indifferent expression. No need to attract unwanted attention from the Careers. Before I knew it, Russell came back and sat down right where he was before, a slight frown on his face.

"They're playing poker." he muttered, under his breath. Great. Sighing mutely, I stood up and walked into the training center.

Five judges sat behind a long table, each supplied with a clipboard and pen and ready to view the tributes. Well, that's what they were supposed to be doing anyway. Two aged bearded men on the left side were indeed playing poker, ignoring me completely. The next was breaking out the wine and another was asleep, snoring softly.

The only gamemaker who was actually paying the slightest amount of attention was the one on the right. The only problem was that his attention was directed toward the wall.

Taking a deep breath, I remembered what Katniss had told me to do. Make them feel like _they're_ in the games. I glanced around at what I had to work with. Knives, dummies, targets, weapon launching machines, bows, arrows, spears, swords, axes... It was basically Career galore here. My eyes rested the synthetic fire tanks that were being carried away by some workers.

An idea entered my mind. An idea that was probably illegal and kill me in the process, but an idea no less. My feet jogged over to the workers before I could even think about what I was doing. They stared at me as I held my hands out in front of them, both confused and unsure of what I wanted. How I hated being unable to speak. Still, they stopped and that was all I needed.

Using all of my strength, I lifted one of the enormous barrels and rolled it over onto its side. Plucking a rather fine dagger, I stabbed at it, causing the liquid to leak. After rolling two barrels of the stuff over the entire arena, including around the judges, I placed each of the four weapon launchers in each corner of the mini arena. Finally, I walked over to the section I'd been dying to lay my hands on for the past two days.

The archery section.

At least fifteen different types of bows were hung on the wall, each specially crafted. There were so many types too. Long, short, recurves, compounds, composites and reflex bows. My hands found a polished white ash composite bow with matching arrows. Perfect. After positioning the weapon launchers just so and instructing some avoxes on what to do, I was ready.

One of the gamemakers had stood up and was about to tell me to leave just before I lit a match. His words were drowned out by the sound of the fire roaring over the room. The flames quickly spread all over, surrounding the table of gamemakers. Their faces were of complete and utter shock as they backed up from the fire.

A few sparks flew right onto me and the bow. After gasping, I sighed in relief as Cinna's creation still worked. I wasn't burned to a crisp. Still, the room had become an inferno.

Quickly, I remembered what I was supposed to be doing. Pulling an arrow out of the quiver, I launched it at the rope holding the weapon launchers back. The rope snapped and the really event began.

I was dodging arrows, swerving past flying daggers and avoid every weapon that came within a foot of me. Then, the dumbies were launched into the air. Whipping out some more arrows, I shot each one down, though my aim wasn't as good as usual. I still hit them in the heads, necks and chests, but it's a little difficult when you're trying not to die.

Then, a dumby came flying over to the judges. Fear shot through my spine. I'd never forgive myself for hurting someone like that, even if they were capitol gamemakers. With my last arrow, I shot it, pinning the dummy to the wall about their heads. Done. The weapons had stopped flying. Even the synthetic fire was nearly gone. Panting and sweating, I left the room, not daring to look at anyone.

I hadn't meant for it to get that out of control. That was crazy. It was a miracle alone that nobody was hurt. I'd surely be arrested by morning. Or worse. This was the captiol we were talking about. They were masters of torture. I went straight to my room, closed the door and plopped onto my bed. What the heck had I been thinking?

I'd thought that if I made it a good show, then it could boost up my score. I couldn't have been more wrong. That little stunt had ruined all of Katniss's hard work. It had destroyed what tiny chance of getting home I had.

I sighed. There was nothing that could be done now except wait.

**P.S. Please vote on my new poll for this story. If your favorite character is not on there, pm me and I'll add it.**


	12. The Scores

I didn't leave my room until Katniss knocked on my door. She was probably going to ask me why there were peacekeepers ready to arrest me. Still, I let her in. It was better to have Katniss here than someone like Effie or Haymitch.

"What's going on?" she asked, her eyes full of confusion. "Why are you so upset?"

I stared back at her. If no one had told my mentor what had happened, then it was clear that nobody else knew either. As for what that meant, I had absolutely no idea.

I signed everything to her. How I tried to be daring and got an idea from her games. I explain how the weapons were flying everywhere and the synthetic fire. As I told her what happened, I began to realize that I might have copied a bit from Katniss. She realized it too.

"Don't worry about it. There's no way anyone can fully copy someone in these games. Besides, I bet Effie will warp it into something else anyway." she told me. I stared at her. So, what was the punishment? Nothing more escaped from her lips. And when I asked her, she shook her head. "They would've contacted me by now if they were that angry with it. You're fine." My eyes widened. I wasn't going to be arrested. Or killed. Or made an avox, though that wouldn't affect much.

Then I realized. I was a Hunger Games competitor. A tribute from district twelve. The reason they weren't going to punish me was because they knew I was already on death road.

"Hey Sweetheart, get your butt down here! They're about to announce the scores!" Haymitch yelled from downstairs. Katniss, clearly too interested with the scores to be annoyed with him, took me with her.

Despite my uneasiness with the whole situation, I was curious too. If I hadn't been killed or arrested, what in all of Panem was my training score? Russell and Haymitch were already on one couch, their eyes glued to the television screen. Katniss and I took the other couch and watched as the names were listed.

Jett Garnet 8 Dia Monds 8

Thor Tracker 9 Jada Emeralds 10

Typical career scores, though Jada's was rather high. She'd definitely be the one to watch out for. After all, I'd seen how vicious she could be. Give her a blade and she could slice you one hundred times while still keeping you alive. She and Rayna were rivals from day one, but I'm not going to repeat Rayna's colorful word choices.

Flint Wires 7 Holly Gadget 4

Jay Benders 7 Pearl Rivers 5

Haymitch snickered at Pearl's score, calling it pathetic and how district four had already lost. I suppose she was relying on her looks to help her in the interviews. Still, she'd be the first to survive in a tsunami. District four citizens learned to swim before they learned to walk. At least, those were the rumors about Four.

Nick Lane 3 Lindsi Wilson 6

Porter Wells 3 Nikki Herb 4

I remembered seeing Lindsi while we were training. She seemed really kind, always seen with a smile on her face. It was too bad that she hated fighting. Still, the careers hadn't really noticed her and that could be her salvation in the Games. I was hoping that I could do the same, but my score might change that. I sank a little lower into my seat, but not for long.

Daniel Anderson 6 Rayna Woods 8

Hunter Macneil 7 Mimzy Carter 3

Everyone seemed impressed with Rayna's eight. After seeing her score, I instantly knew she had done something with knives during her private session. It was amazing and scary at how alike that Rayna and Jada were, though both hated each other with a passion. Still, the two knife masters were clever and it was clear that Rayna had a chance at winning this thing.

Jason Oaks 5 Heather Stanton 8

Steel Tanner 10 Maple Summers 6

Steel's score was no surprise. He was 6' 4 and had biceps the size of my head or larger. He hadn't noticed me during training. That I was thankful for. I could shoot all the arrows I had at Steel and it would hardly make a dent. He, on the other hand, could crush me by the simple snap of his fingers. Moving away from those thoughts, I focused on Heather. She really was something with that spear she had. Another possible winner and I couldn't be happier for her.

Mario Davids 4 Ember Golden 8

I could picture Mario getting all upset over his score. He was just a little kid. Ember on the other hand. ANOTHER 8! How many 8s were the gamemakers giving out? Still, Ember wasn't a weakling. In fact, she was quite strategic and quick on her feet. District eleven had a strong change of making it to the finals.

Russell Irving 6

Nothing out of the ordinary. Russell looked at it, frowned and eyed me. I braced myself. My score was next. The score that would determine my fate in the 80th Hunger Games. My name appeared in the remaining empty slot with a bing, as all the others had.

Lynnia Evers 10

Haymitch spat his beer out, causing Russell to fall off of the couch in a desperate attempt avoid it. Effie gasped, dramtically. Katniss broke into a proud smile. As for me, I was still staring at the score. A ten. How was that possible?

"Lyn, that's amazing!" Katniss told me, her real smile finding its way to her lips.

"What do ya know? Tiny's got talent!" Haymitch bellowed, his hand ruffled the top of my head. I smiled back at him. Even Russell tossed me a lopsided grin. I was surprised by this. Out of all the years I had known him, he never smiled at me like that. It was usually either a mischeivious grin or teasing. This one almost looked glad.

Before I had any more time to think on it, Effie started babbling on about how I had a real chance of winning and all the sponsors that I'd get. I wondered what Ash was thinking right about now. Was he proud, or worried or a mix of everything like I was? I hoped for the hundedth time that Gale was keeping to the agreement we had. It was obvious that he'd never go back on a deal, but that didn't keep me from worrying about my baby brother.

Speaking of Willie, he was probably bouncing off the walls by now. I swear I could've gotten a one and he'd be just as excited. I stared back at the ten once more before it disappeared. Ten. The highest score in the Games this year. The tied top score between a clever, sneaky, district two girl, a strong, giant district ten boy and me, the district twelve girl with no voice. I was really making a name for myself.

"What did you do in there tiny?" Haymitch asked, though I don't remember if he was drunk, decent or somewhere in between. I simply shurgged my shoulders, turning to Katniss.

'I followed your idea, but then I found synthetic fire.' I signed to her. Her eyes widened, like I had expected them to when she came into my room.

"What?" Effie asked, looking from mentor to tribute and back again. Katniss came out of her trance and smiled.

"Oh nothing, just a couple details." she waved it off, searching for something to distract the woman with. "So, should we start on interview training?"

That did it. Effie started talking at fifty mile per hour, going from outfits to manner to interview questions and sponsors. Seeing her talk so fast made my head hurt. I'd completely forgotten about the Interviews. The idea of talking to all of Panem made my knees weak and my head spin. Still, all of Panem. All the districts and the Capitol.

Wait a minute, that meant District Twelve too. I thought about all of the familiar faces who'd be watching. My parents. Greasy Sae, the only woman in the Hob who didn't think of ways to take advantage of me the moment I came in alone. The sad looking man I traded a few squirrels for a loaf of bread with. Willie, of course, my rambuncious little brother. Ash, my number one hunting partner and maybe more than a friend. His little sister, Ally, who was the same age as Willie. His mother, who was also so kind when I stopped by. Then, there was Gale Hawthorne too.

There would be people I knew, rooting for me the whole time. I wasn't completely alone and I had to remember that. Sadly, I'd zoned out while Katniss and Effie were talking and well... That's not a really good thing to do right before you figure out you have to _train_ for the Interviews.

Effie whisked me away, Katniss hesitantly following. She gave me a look of pity before saying she had to go with some other mentors to prepare my interpreter. I didn't even have time to ask what she meant. In fact, I barely managing to give her a 'why are you leaving me' look right before she forwned and left the room.

I was now in Effie's clutches. Doomed. She taught me everything she believed were expected manners for the Capitol. Chin up. Curtsy like this. Sign nice and clear for the interpreters. Smile. Act like you're proud to be in the Capitol, looking happily at everyone. Don't trip. I broke at least half of these rule in the first fifteen minutes. Effie frowned.

"Here, put these on." She placed a pair of her shiny, purple, six inch heels onto my feet. I nearly fell over. My feet ached as she placed a book on my head and made me was back and for, here and there, up and down stairs. It was crazy. Finally, after two hours of pain, I was relieved from training.

"You're not completely hopeless." Effie decided as she put away her torturous weapons. "But you're still pretty rough around the edges. Perhaps better than that last girl though. Whined and quit during the first half hour! At least you don't give up."

I was going to sign to her that I _couldn't_ complain, but thought better of it and didn't. We were interrupted from our lessons by a knock on the door. I expected it to be Katniss, but it was actually Haymitch.

"I told Katniss I'd be teaching you next. She can have you after." he told me. I nodded and followed him to a different room. We sat on a couch and stared at each other. It dawned me that I'd never really been alone with him before. It was... interesting.

"Everyone in the interviews has a strategy, an idea on how to win the sponsors." He explained, "I've seen monstrous, intimidating, mysterious, funny, sexy, wise, you name it." His eyes narrowed as he focused on me, as if observing my every move. Haymitch was trying to decipher what strategy would best suit me. But from the looks of it, he wasn't having much luck. After a few minutes of this, he sighed, frustrating that.

We'd both silently agreed to something. This wasn't going to be easy.

"We may as well knock off intimidating because you're as scary as a dandelion." Haymitch broke the silence. "How about wise?" I shook my head.

"Are you secretly some comedian?" I laughed mutely at this one. Not going to happen.

"Sexy?" I scrunched my nose up. Though I may have blushed when Ash gave me compliments, I was _not_ sexy. We went on like this for a while until Haymitch groaned, obviously irritated by my lack of strategy.

"What are you going to do? Just sit there?" He snapped, "You may have gotten the highest training score, but you'll lose everything if you mess this interview up! Can't you say _anything_?" My eyes widened at his word choice. Out of all the words he could have used, he was complaining about my lack of words? Tears hung at the edges of my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I was not going to cry like some child.

Instead, I stood up, snatched a piece of paper and pen and scribbled down my reply. I firmly set it in front of him. He looked down at the let and I signed as he read it.

_'I'll be me.'_


	13. A Silent Interview

**Sorry for the long update! You see, I don't really have much time in the school year because of karate (and teaching), academics, hunting, target shooting, driving, the list goes on and on. I've also gotten a lot of writer's block over how to make this story and keep it original, but thank you for all those who've reviewed or read this story. I will try to update at least once a week this summer!**

Between Effie's torture and Haymitch's attempted pep talk, I was ready to quit right then and there. People like me just weren't cut out for the capitol. I wanted to, but I wouldn't. I wouldn't leave Willie without a sister or Ash without his best friend. Forcing myself to think about them, I continued my way to Katniss. She was going to be the one to give me final tips before the interview. Well, that was mainly my excuse. I really just needed to sign to her and wanted someone to talk to, without forcing me into high heels (Effie) or complaining about my silence (Haymitch).

I'd never really depended one someone so much since Rosa died. Well, other than Ash, but this was different. My mentor was always explaining my signs, helping me and telling me every strategy she possessed to win the Games. I knew Katniss couldn't compare to my sister, nor could my sister to Katniss. And yet, I missed this. Having another girl to talk to, someone who understood you, who could give you good advice and was just there.

Still, she was just doing her job. I had to remind myself that. Katniss didn't think of me like a younger sibling, nor did she have any thought similar to that. She was just trying to get through a horrible year of watching her tributes die. I was no more than that to anyone I'd met here. A simple tribute that would die in the Games.

I opened the door and found her sitting on the couch, lost in thought. Suprisingly, she didn't notice me as I walked up to her, something I'd already learned was very unlike Katniss. When I moved to face her, she finally snapped out of her trance and looked at me. I tilted my head to the side, questioningly.

"It's nothing. Just thinking of old times, I guess." Even then, her gray eyes revealed her mourning for them. Whatever had happened before Katniss's Games, she'd never wanted it to end. She was like her mockingjay pendant. Mockingjays never interfered with anyone else's lives. They simply carried about their jobs, singing and copying other musical tunes in the woods. Never bothering a soul. Then, the Capitol took that from her. Just as they had with countless others.

As I thought more about it, weren't we all mockingjays? The tributes, the mentors and the citizens of the districts. Weren't we all just harmless birds that the Capitol toyed around with by clipping our wings and stealing away our freedom? I frowned at my realization and made a quick promise to myself. My wings were clipped as far as they could go, permanently damaged, but I would not give the Capitol the satisfaction of watching my life end in their games. I would not die as their entertainment.

Katniss patted the seat next to her and I sat down.

"We have half an hour before you need to go see Sol and get ready for the Interviews." I grimaced at her words. That soon? Then again, everything seemed to speed up when the Hunger Games was involved. "Did you figure out your strategy with Haymitch?"

I nodded, but she caught my hesitation. I guess years of hunting and being in the Hunger Games improves your senses. I could only wonder what it would do to me.

"What is it?" she asked, her gray eyes bearing into my grayish-green ones. My left hand pointed towards myself. Katniss showed a flicker of confusion and I signed the word interview and strategy, before pointed to myself once again. That time, there was silence and it wasn't just me.

"You're going as yourself?" her eyes narrowed. "Lyn, what are you thinking?"

_'Haymitch doesn't think I can pull off any other strategies, so it's the only thing I have left.'_ My fingers moved quickly and drastically, quite different than my usual fluid movements.

"The Capitol isn't entertained by normal people, Lyn. They're looking for the ones who stand out. The ten may give you an upper hand, but you tied with two others. If you don't make a good impression, you'll be buried among them."

_'Then, I'll exagerate.'_ I paused for a moment, thinking it over. What would I do? I wasn't a comedian or bodybuilder. I definitely wasn't sexy, though I wasn't too upset on that part. I took a deep breath.

"What will you exagerate on then?" she replied, practically reading my thoughts. "Tell me exactly what you plan to tell them." It dawned me that my life was divided into three categories. Hunting. Taking care of my brother. Ash. Hunting was illegal, so I couldn't mention anything slightly remote to it. Willie, my brother, as amazing as he was, was a little kid. I didn't really want to bring him into all of this. And Ash. There was so much about him, but I was just so confused about us right now. I wished things were simple like they used to be, just us hunting in the woods forever.

I gave a mute sigh and lowered my head, admitting defeat. I had absolutely no idea for what I was in for. Katniss stared at me for a moment or two. I could tell by her eyes that she was thinking.

"We need to find something to interest the audience. As bad as it sounds, that's the way to win them over." she decided, looking me over for a moment. "I talked to the staff and they're willing to put a screen in the back and put up subtitles for your signs. That will get them curious, but you really need to wow them with something."

'_Like?_' I signed back, interested now. How Katniss had developed such good strategies I'll never know. She practically pulled them out of her head. But hey, I wasn't complaining.

"First of all, you need to get something straight. If you're going to be yourself, you can't get nervous in front of the camera. There are no do overs. It's live." she explained thoroughly. Typical Katniss. Still, I listened in as she gave me my last few tips and instructions. Times wasn't on my side today. Then again, when had it ever been? Before I knew it, I was on the elevator, soon to be 'prepared' for the interview by Sol. If I wasn't going to die in the Games in a day or two, I'd be worried that they were trying to kill me to death with all these events.

"Lyn sweetheart!" Celestia greeted me at the door, wearing a pale purple dress that greatly contrasted with her starry night skin. "We've been waiting for you. We only have three hours until the Interviews begin!"

If I thought they were over washing me on the first day, they weren't holding anything back now. I must have been shampooed, conditioned and scrubbed at least five times. After that, my hair went through a hair dryer that was powerful enough to make a hurricane. Though I didn't my the body lotion, the process of straightening my already semi straight hair was a long and tedious process.

Desperate to communicate, I took a piece of paper and scribbled down a note. Quickly, I handed it to Iris.

"Sol is doing final adjustments to you dress." she explained, answering my question. Her rainbow contacts swerved over to the door as she went in to see him. It dawned me that Iris might have a liking for the stylist. Still, Sparkle didn't let me think about it for more than a second or two before she began doing my makeup. Dazzle, who was doing my hair, was going on about Sol's ingenious creation and how you could easily slip into it. This allowed them to take care of makeup and hair before hand. Yaddah, Yaddah, Yaddah.

About two, maybe two and a half hours later, Sol and Iris arrived with the , Sol grinned and told me to close my eyes. Deciding to trust him, I did as told. Without warning, Sparkle and Dazzle removed my t-shirt and jeans, much to my displeasure. Still, they guided me into the dress, which actually felt quite smooth and comfortable. Once my stylist allowed me to open my eyes once more, I gasped, probably the most noise I'd made in a long time.

I wore dark silver heels, though nothing half as ridiculous as the ones Effie had made me wear. In fact, these didn't hurt at all. The dress was absolutely amazing. It was spaghetti strap with a dark silver ribbon, just above my middle section and matching the heels. The dress itself was silver, but what amazed me were the sparkles. They were ordinary sequins. It actually looked like the dress dazzled, like a million microscopic crystals all shimmering around. It end just just short of my knees, not too long, not too short.

Sparkle had even given me lip gloss that made my lips resemble a frosty pink and added a shimmery grayish-purple eyeshadow. Dazzle of course, straightened my hair, making it look shiny and healthy. As I stared into the mirror, I found a word in my mind that had never occurred to me before. I felt...pretty. Beautiful even. The best I had ever felt before. The new feeling gave me a surge of energy as I smiled at myself in the mirror, turned around and gave Sol a hug. I felt so happy, so carefree.

Both my prep team and my stylist led me onto the stage of the Interviews. Twenty four chairs sat in the back of the stage while two largest, comfy leather chairs stood out in the front. The crowd was huge, ending my newfound energy with a mere glance. I sat in my chair, turning to see the other tributes. Heather was already here, dressed in a flowy lavender dress with her hair down in loose curls. She smiled nervously as I looked at her.

And so, the Interviews began.

A man came up on stage, his hair a light purple, matching the suit that he was dressed in. Katniss had told me about him. Caesar Flickerman, the host of the Hunger Games Interviews. He greeted the audience, welcoming them to the event, giving thanks to many of the staff and so on. Despite being from the Capitol and celebrating my future death, this guy wasn't too bad. At least, he seemed quite nice.

"Let us begin the Interviews with our first tribute." Caesar spoke to the crowd and turned to the tributes. "Jett Garnet from Dictrict One!" There was a roar of cheers spread throughout the audience as Jett plopped into the chair beside Caesar like it was made for him.

"Well Jett, how does it feel to be a Hunger Game Tribute?" the host asked.

"What can I say Caesar? I was born to be on TV." He boasted, tossing a smirk around as his royal blue eyes scanned the crowd. He went on and on about himself, so much that I had already had enough after two minutes. Jett was clearly focused on one thing and one thing only. Too bad it was himself. I could tell that Rayna was quite happy for him to leave the stage as well. Careers were quickly established. Jett had an ego bigger than all of Panem. The next girl, Dia, was obviously going for sexy, though she wasn't exactly the smartest one in the bunch.

District Two was much more intimidating. The male tribute, Thor, was fairly talled and it became quite clear that he had been training for a while. He'd gotten a nine for a training score and it showed. Still, what terrified me the most was the girl. Jada Emeralds. She was sixteen, making her two years older than me. She was fit, but thin with narrow ice blue eyes and jet black hair. Her training score was also a ten. I'd seen her in training. Her knife skills made my bow look like a tooth pick.

"So Jada, we know you're allied with the Careers. Is there anyone you would consider a direct enemy or threat?" the host asked.

"Well Caesar, I truly doubt the amount of threats these tributes pose, but everyone in the Games who is not with the Careers is clearly an enemy. Although, that redhead from 7 is pretty damn annoying." Rayna glares daggers at Jada, her blood boiling at the insult. It was clear as day that these two wouldn't hesitate to slit the other's throat.

District Three had the twelve year old I'd seen earlier. Apparently, her name was Holly Gadget, a typical District Three name. I watched as she nervously walked up to Caesar and sat in the chair beside him. One thing I quickly learned about the host was that he knew how to make tributes shine. With the careers, he'd gone on about their tactics and weapons. With little Holly, he helped he look even more innocent and adorable.

"So tell us Holly, do you have any family back home?" Caesar asked, keeping his tone soft and gentle. The girl nodded her head, making her shiny little earings jingle.

"I have my parents, my aunt and uncle and my cousin, Flint." she answered, her voice a little skittish. Still, she was doing ok, especially for a twelve year old. I prayed she would make it past the blood bath, despite the knowledge than 23 of us right on this stage would be dead in days. Several gasps were heard from the crowd as realization flooded through their minds.

"You and Flint are cousins?" she nodded again, her eyes drifting to the fourteen year old in the District Three seat. They continued for a little bit, before the buzzer signified for the next tribute to go. Four had typical careers, though the girl was a little ditzy and also going for the sexy appeal. I noticed Dia glare as the Four girl did her interview. I could already tell that she wouldn't mind slaughtering her just for getting the spotlight back on herself. I zoned out through the next few districts, my worries beginning to eat away at my mind. Though, I was pulled out of my concerns when they called out District Seven.

"And now, from the thick wilderness of District Seven, your female tribute, Rayna Woods!" Caesar introduced, causing the crowd to cheer. I didn't mind Caesar. He really tried to give each tribute and exciting title and make them feel comfortable on stage. Then, my eyes went over to Rayna. She wore a strapless green dress, making her fiery red hair pop out even more so than usual. Not to mention, her prep team had woven a vine like necklace with a flower pendant in the center.

Rayna being Rayna, she wasn't afraid of the audience at all. In fact, she actually had a pretty good interview, using her sarcasm and tomboy nature as her angle.

"Caesar, let's be honest. I'm not taking crap from anyone in these games. You're either with me or against me." She spoke with a triumphant smirk as the buzzer signified the end of her interview. She went back to her original chair and stuck her tongue out at Jada, the girl from 2. Several more tributes were called, but none of them seemed like a direct threat to me, so I simply waited until Heather was up. Her hair had been put up in a wavy bun, with a few loose strands framing her face. Her dress resembled a sunset and her cheeks were coated in a matching orange.

Heather smiled kindly to Caesar and they quickly went through the interview. She was her typical sweetheart self, but also added that she too would not put up with anyone messing with her allies. I smiled. Maybe, just maybe we would be able to get enough sponsors to last us through the first few days. The next tributes who caught my attention were Steele and Ember.

Ember had a mysterious, yet aloof sense to her. I admired it and how it seemed to lure the audience in, whether she was aware of it or not. I'd seen her skills during practice sessions and she was not one to be messed with. While we were on ok terms for the moment, I knew she wouldn't hesitate to kill me in that arena.

Steele was, in every way possible, intimidating. He stood at 6'4", towering over Caesar, with biceps the size of my head and a gruff, unfriendly expression on his face. Katniss had mentioned that he reminded her of Thresh, a muscular district 11 tribute from her own Games. Nevertheless, Caesar smiled at him the same way he had with the others and continued with his questions.

"So Steele, what's your plan in the Games? A big, strong guy like you, with a ten for a training score no less, you pose a big threat to a lot of this year's competitors."

"Plan is to win Games. I kill anyone in my way." He spoke in a deep, penetrating voice that easily scared several of the younger tributes, despite his bad grammar. Still, I noticed that his eyes hadn't changed. He was simply stating the facts. Although, I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing at the moment. As they went on with the interview, not much was learned aside from the fact that Steele worked with his blacksmith father and would not let anyone stand in his way of getting home. No one. Despite his fearsome appearance, many members of the audience were smiling triumphantly, deciding to sponsor him.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, the final of our tributes with a score of ten, Lynnia Evers!" For a moment, I froze, my eyes surveying the thousands of capitol applauding at my name. It wasn't until Russell nudged me in the side that I stood up and walked to the center of the stage. Sitting down, I looked at Caesar, who was smiling at me. "For those of you that don't know, Lynnia is our first ever mute tribute. And since she is unable to speak with us vocally, we took the liberty of putting up a projection screen to translate for her." My eyes wavered over to the large wall screen behind us and gulped. I was never one for public speaking, though what mute wasn't?

"So Lynnia-" Someone yelled Lyn in the background, nearly making me jump until I recognized who it was. Then I just smiled.

"Thank you for that input, Rayna." Caesar told the redhead, who smirked. "So _Lyn_, I'm sure all of us are wondering. What's your strategy in the Games? Will being a mute hold you back?"

_'I tend to make it up as I go along. And as for being a mute, I don't think it will hold me back. Words aren't exactly needed in the Games.'_ I signed, watching as they appeared in words on the screen. It even sparked the curiosity of some audience members.

"Right you are, my dear. Although, it's got to be difficult communicating with your friends and your family." An aww was heard from the crowd and I bit my lip before replying.

_'It can be a little frustrating, but I've learned to deal with it. Most of my family and friends back home have learned sign language already._' I smiled, thinking of Willie who was probably leaning into the tiny, fuzzy television in our house.

"Ah, and is there a special someone waiting back home as well? hmm?" he pressed on. I must have blushed because he grinned and cheered the crowd on.

'_I don't know about that. Maybe sometime in the future, if I make it out of the Games to see him._'

"Well, you sure stand a fighting chance, especially with that ten for a training score! Care to tell us about that?"

'_I have my mentor Katniss Everdeen to thank for that._' I smiled. '_She brings out a lot of my strengths._' That earned a small smile on said mentor's face.

"Yes, the Girl on Fire herself! As you know, Lyn is the first tribute ever to be mentor by Katniss." the host explained to the crowd. Then, he turned back to me and continued with his questions. "And one last question. I'm sure we all remember your older sister Rosalyn several years ago. A lovely lady I might add. I know it must have been devastating when she didn't return home. If you could see her again, what would you say?" My eyes widened. Rosa. I found myself lost for words. Still, I managed to move my hands once more.

'_I'd say I'm going to win for her._'


	14. Hesitation

**Sorry, this is kind of a filler chapter because there's not a lot to write about between the Interview and the Bloodbath next chapter. To make things a little more interesting, I added a short pov from all three girls. But don't worry because the next chapter will be the Bloodbath and I'll be sure to include as much action as I can. Until then, please read and review!**

**Heather Pov**

"Heather darling, you were amazing!" My stylist exclaimed, throwing his arms around me. Benvolio was rather expressive, and definitely a hugger. But after the first fifty hugs, you begin to just get used to it. He wore a lilac purple suit and had dyed his hair the same color for the event. As crazy as his style is, I will admit he did a wonderful for my outfit tonight.

I had simply mentioned how I love sunsets and he believed it to be fate wanting to represent me in the form of a beautiful sunset! Or at least, that was what Benvolio had gone on for half an hour about, trying to tell people about his epiphany. The sunset dress had proved to be one of the prettiest outfits i'd ever worn, though I couldn't help but feel a bit spoiled when I wore these fancy outfits. District 9 was not one of the poorest districts, but we weren't that far off. My aunt Nina worked as a seamstress and I helped her with her clothing kiosk in the market.

As my mentor had discovered, sewing clothes did little for me in the games, but it did give me the knowledge I needed to know on stitching up wounds and using rope. Still, my best skill was by far, the spear. I don't know how I had developed this skill, but I was eternally grateful for it. It gave me just a tiny bout of confidence that I had a chance.

Tomorrow would be the first day of the Hunger Games and I was more than nervous. Ever since I was young, the Hunger Games had always scared me. Still, Rayna and Lyn were my allies and I would not let them down. Or my family. Or my parents...

It had been four years since my parents had been taken to the Capitol and turned into avoxes. They were falsely accused of stealing money from the head peacekeeper. It was a lie. I had seen him throw some money at our doorstep and leave. Although, no one believed a little eleven year old at the time.

I now sat on my bed with my Avox mother standing at attention at the door. She looked so different from the last time I had seen her. Her strawberry blonde hair was pulled back into a tight bun and she wore a red avox uniform. It was hard to believe that this obedient, silent avox was my mom.

For the first few days, I hadn't known how to react towards her at all. She seemed just as uncomfortable as I was about it, but she was always watching over me, as she was now. I could still see the love of a mother under that horrible capitol obedience. Sitting up, I turned to her and asked for her to close my door. She nodded and complied. I then motioned for her to come over here.

She hesitantly walked forward and sat uncomfortably on my bed beside me, as I'd instructed her too. I hated commanding my own mother around, but it was the only way I'd get to see her. In fact, I might never see her again. Or my father. Or anyone. The Hunger Games began tomorrow and I had no idea of its outcome.

I knew that there couldn't be more than one winner. I knew that out of Rayna, Lyn and I, at least two of us would eventually die. I knew that the odds were stacked against us. But despite all of that, despite the rules, despite everything, I turned to my mother and hugged her for the first time in years.

**Rayna** **pov **

Let me make this very clear. Jada Emeralds is a bitch. A soulless, horrible, irritating, vicious bitch. I'm normally not one to get so ticked off...ok maybe I am, but that's not important. The point was that this stupid, know-it-all Career was treating me like an annoying little fly.

Well Rayna Woods does not stand for that! I glared at her throughout the entire interview session, thought of many different carvings I could make (into her skull that is) and was now determined to outlast that chic in the Games! Not only that, but she posed as a really threat to my team. I mean, I could easily destroy her in a knife fight, but still. Those Careers were a pain.

After flinging knives into a target for an hour straight, I finally decided to turn in for the night. Neither my stylist nor my mentor had the guts to speak. Though, I couldn't really blame them. I wasn't always the easiest person to talk to, especially when I was upset.

I might not have had a lot of friends growing up, but I had a fair few. Besides, I spent most of my time in the woods, climbing trees and flinging knives. My entire family knew that I was destined to be a District 7 girl. My dad even called me his little lumberjack when I was little. That was before he got really busy with work, but I still snuck out sometimes to be with him during his lunch breaks.

My mother, on the other hand, wasn't much of an outdoor girl at all. In fact, she didn't even approve of me being as much of a tomboy as I was. She'd always wanted a little girl to dress up and have that mother daughter bond, but I guess the odds weren't in her favor either. I was me and that wasn't going to change. So, we didn't get along too well. Sometimes, it really hurt to know that she was disappointed in me. But now, with me fuming over the horrid Jada, it was slightly easier to deal with.

Besides, I had two favorites in the family. Jax and AJ, my two amazing little brothers. They were both seven years old and twins. I loved them both so much. It only helped that they idolized their big sis and were always begging me to take them tree climbing. It tore me up to leave them. They had never been without me before and I had always been the one to cheer them up.

It really made me wonder what would happen to them if I died. Would mom let them play outside as often as we did? Would dad have enough time to take them on walks through the woods? Who'd play hide and go seek with them?

I quickly shook those thoughts out of my head. Worrying over what-if's would get me no where. I would win these games and get back to them. I was not going to lose to some Career snob like Jada. With that in mind, I turned off my lights and went to bed.

**Lyn pov**

After the Interviews, I was drained. I barely even acknowledged Effie going on and on about my performance and sponsors. My mind didn't seem to notice my prep team praising me. To be honest, I didn't even sign to Katniss. My thoughts kept wandering back to Rosa. What had she felt during the interview? or training? or the Hunger Games in general? What were her strategies?

All of these thoughts I'd spent years trying to forget were now beginning to emerge once more. And the timing couldn't have been worse. Tomorrow was the start of the Hunger Games, or the bloodbath as it's more commonly known as. The event that Rosa had just managed to escape. I remembered her just narrowly avoid death when she came into contact with a vicious Career. Would I survive through it as she had?

I currently sat in my luxury capitol room, wondering. Well, that was until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned to find Katniss sitting beside me, a look of concern tugging at her features.

"Are you ok, Lyn? You seem really out of it." she commented, noting my worried face. I bit my lip, then sighed mutely.

'_It's my sister. Rosa's Games was the worse time of my life. And now, I'm about to do the same._' I signed so fast that I was surprised that she was able to keep up. '_I just keep wondering what would have happened if she'd made it out alive. If I make it out alive._' For a while, I wasn't the only silent one. Katniss seemed deep in thought about my words.

"Well, you can't change the past. She didn't make it, but that doesn't mean you won't either. I'm sure Rosa would've wanted you to try your hardest. Besides, you've got a lot of people back home who care about you." she told me with a comforting smile. And I'll admit it didn't make the situation any worse, but it did make me feel better.

Katniss pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and handed it to me. It was folded up and the top read: To Lyn, in messy penmanship. Opening it up, I found that it was a letter. It said:

'Hi, it's Willie! Im writing to u becuz I rember wen u tot me! I miss u so much and I wanna wish u good luk and I wanna wach u win Lynnie! Mom says if u win, then u come home! A lotta peeple say u wont come home, but I no u will becuz ur smart and a good hunter! Ash says he misses u to and we hang out a lot now. He is a little sad now, but no wurries becuz Im gonna take care of him lik u say to. He says u was reelly pritty on tv and proud becuz u got a big score! A big guy with a bo hunts with Ash now and they bring lots of stuff home! Im gonna wach u on tv all day until u come home! I love u!

From Willie'

I couldn't help, but smile at his attempt of writing. Schooling in District 12 was difficult because there was no really order to how you got educated. Some teachers started with math and others started with history. Willie's teacher knew little grammar, which was why she taught her students more about science. So, he wasn't the best speller, but he was slowly improving.

Just the thought of him working on this letter made me want to chuckle. I could not have asked for a better brother. Katniss was right. I did have a lot of people back home and I was very thankful for them. I beamed at her and signed thank you. She nodded and left me to sleep, as I would need every bit of energy I had for the games.

And Ash. Of course, Ash had done exactly as he promised to. He was taking care of my little brother while I couldn't and feeding my family. My mind drifted over to the 'pritty' comment just before I felt a blush on my cheeks. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Under normal circumstances, I would have smiled or laughed it off. But ever since that kiss...

Well, things hadn't really been the same. Still, I had to make it home. For him. For Willie. For Rosa.

For me.


	15. important Author's note! Please Help

_**IMPORTANT PLEASE READ BELOW!**_

**Hey guys, I know I haven't been updating as often as I should and I'm sorry for that. Lately, I've been wrapped up in a lot to do, but I haven't forgotten about my story either! I should be able to add a chapter by tonight, but I have a rather important announcement. **

**There is a new book series in the making, known as The Marbles Saga. It's about these four sisters from a tough city neighborhood. They enter an ancient magical land, hoping to swap a very special Marble for their kidnapped father. What they get is a huge roller-coaster ride of adventure, emotion, betrayals and wonderment. **

**I can tell it's going to be a very good book, but it needs some supporters. As I'm sure all you author out there know, publishing a book is not easy...or cheap. The Marbles Saga needs a total of $9,000 by the end of the month to make it to the next step on its road to becoming published. Now, please understand that this is a fantastic book for anyone who loves fantasy and adventure. I would absolutely hate for it to go to waste. **

**So, here's the deal. I'm not going to ask you to send in $9,000 each. However, even a donation of just $10 will make a huge difference! Not to mention, there a lots of prizes you can get for the money you send in. Trust me, I've checked and this thing is completely legit! I'll be sending in as much money as I can to help with this book too, but I could really use some help.**

**It would also be amazing if we could help a story become the next bestseller! Also, if you guys can send in just one dollar, it will mean the world to me! Not to mention, the more money that's raised for the Marble Saga, the faster I'll be updating Silent Tears. So, please help this story!**

**The website is right here:**

** projects/898779885/the-marbles-saga-book-one-the-marbleman**

**PS. if the website doesn't work for some reason, you can always go on .com and type in The Marbles Saga in the search bar. It should be by Steve Peaslee. Thanks for reading!**


	16. The Games Begin

**And without further adue, the BLOODBATH!**

This morning was different than all the others. Normally, Effie would open the door and turn on the bright capitol lights of my room, all while yelling "Get up! It's going to be a big big day!". Or if I was lucky enough, I'd wake up on my own and Katniss would get me before Effie woke up. I greatly preferred the latter. But sadly, I received neither of these options today.

I was woken by a gruff hand, attempting to gently shake my shoulder. I opened my eyes and turn to come face to face with Haymitch, his calloused fingers still on my shoulder. It occurred to me now that he was trying to be courteous during this 'wake up' duty. That was never a good sign. Neither was his calm and serious face, though I detected a hint of worry in his eyes.

"Come on, Tiny." he said, sounding surprisingly sober. I nodded and slid out of my fancy capitol bed. That bed was large enough for my entire family to sleep on and still have plenty of room. Haymitch ran a hand through his blonde hair as he stared at the clock. "You have twenty minutes to make yourself decent. Then, meet the rest of us in the dining room for breakfast."

I nodded to him and he excited my temporary room. Shaking those thoughts from my head, I headed into the enormous shower. In the past few days, I had successfully managed to figure out how to work the many buttons that controlled the fancy device. Showers in the District 12 were almost unheard of, except for the mayor and the victors.

Apparently, some capitol people even lavished themselves with this privilege _twice_ a day. Still, I can't say I didn't enjoy it. Showers felt so soothing, not to mention the various shampoos, conditioners, soaps and bubbles they had. Today, I settled with the pine scented ones, praying that it would give me an advantage should the Games be held in the woods.

Not to mention, it reminded me of home. Of the woods. Of Ash.

I gulped nervously. Today was the first day of the official Hunger Games, where each tribute would be constantly monitored by all of Panem. The Bloodbath was one of the Capitol's favorite events. Haymitch and Katniss had spent countless nights telling Russell and I ways to survive it. I figured the best was to go around the outskirts of the cornucopia until I found my allies and then get the heck out of there.

I hopped out of the shower and dried myself off, putting my hair into a low ponytail. Settling on purple tank top and some denim jeans (a type of clothing I ha soon grown to love), I turned back to the nightstand beside my bed. Pulling out a drawer, I lifting several papers out of the way and found my hidden belongings. From my stash, I tied my crystal pendant necklace around my neck and took out Gale's letter to Katniss.

Reading it over, I sighed. I had been trying to put this off for a while now, not quite knowing how to give it to her. Still, I had promised Gale and he was certainly keeping his end of the bargain. After breakfast. I'd give her the letter then. With that decided, I placed the letter in my pocket and headed to the dining room. Apparently, Katniss was still getting Russell up.

Haymitch told me to eat as much as I could without getting sick, that I would need it in the Games.

"Though, I don't know how much good it would do you. You're already skinnier than a twig." he said a moment later. I couldn't help, but smile as his effortto keep things normal. Clearly, being so serious and depressing had annoyed him, since he didn't last long. Sol shot me a smile, as did Cinna. Not much else was said until Katniss and Russell arrived. Russell took a seat beside me, but said nothing and ignored my presence. Oh well, it wasn't like that was the first time someone had ever done that to me. Besides, I had more to worry about than him at the moment.

I took Haymitch's advice and ate a good breakfast. I had blueberry pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, bacon, an apple and orange juice. I tried to taste as much as I could, to remember the deliciousness of the food I might not have again. Once I was finished, I went with Sol into a prep room. This room was different than the one I had once been in just before the interviews. This one was smaller, but still screamed Capitol in every direction.

Sol opened up a silver box, the capitol seal printed proudly on the top. He kept his face calm and elusive, masking his emotions. This frustrated me. There were very few people who could hide their emotions so well from me. Not being able to speak had allowed me to focus more on body language than verbal. However, there were a handful of people who I had yet to figure out. Like Ash. Or that boy from District 10, Steele.

Anyway, Sol pulled out several articles of clothing from the box and handed them to me. I was soon dressed in a gray t-shirt, dark brown pants and a leather belt. I marveled at the boots. They were black, almost coming up to my knees, and I could already tell they could be as silent as I was. Sol couldn't help, but smile sadly as I inspected my outfit. He brushed out my hair himself, being both soothing and gentle, before he braided a small part of my hair all the way into my pony tail. I signed thank you to him as he put my coat on.

"Lyn, the odds may never have been in your favor, but I'm honored to have met you. Good luck." With that, Sol pressed his lips to my hand and walked me out the door.

Katniss was waiting for me outside of the room. She quickly analyzed my outfit, her mind racing through possibilities of what the arena might be like. Finding no immediate ideas, she led me to the hovercraft. Now, I had only just been in a car a few days ago. Other than that, my main source of travel was my feet. The hovercrafts were amazing, but I fought back the urge to cling on to Katniss as the engines sounded.

One of the men on the plane shoved me into a seat beside Russell, who was dressed similarly. As I looked around, all twenty-three tributes were beside me, each district having its own t-shirt color. I didn't have time to see all the individual colors before a lady came over and injected something into my arm, and quite painfully at that. I had just enough time to something blink under my skin from the injection before we departed. A tracker?

The hovercraft arrived all too soon and we were once more ushered into separate rooms. This room had a clear tube leading upwards to the arena.

"Ok, when you get to the arena, stay on the outskirts of the cornucopia until you find your allies, Heather and Rayna. But should the bloodbath get too bad, forget about everything and run." Katniss was dishing out advice left and right, though most of it I'd already heard. "Make sure to find water. You can last up to two weeks without food, but you won't make two days without water. Stay away from the careers at all costs. And always be cautious."

I forced a smile onto my face and pressed a finger to my lips, signaling for her to calm down. She sighed and nodded, lightly gripping my arms.

"I know District 12 isn't well known for surviving these games, but let's change that. You can survive, I know it. You just have to outsmart them." Before I knew it, I was pulled into a tight embrace from the girl on fire. "You remind me so much of Prim and Rue, even a little bit of myself."

My eyes widened at this. My heart melted. To think that Katniss thought of me so highly made me want to stand with pride. Then, I remembered Gale's letter. Fishing it out of my pocket, I nervously handed it to her. She took it with surprise, but I hugged her once more before she could read it.

One of the avoxes helped me into the tube and closed the door. I eyed Katniss as her face turned from surprised to serious and back to surprised again. She looked up quickly, but I was already ascending upwards. I waved sadly at my mentor as I left her view. The last thing I saw of her was her shocked eyes.

* * *

><p>As I finally ascended to the arena, my eyes widened at what lay before me. The Cornucopia. Dozens of items littered the ground, spilling out of the metal cornucopia. Machetes. Broad swords. Spears. Backbacks. Food. So many different keys to survival all simply laying for the taking. I even saw a silver bow. And not just any bow, but a <em>Katniss's<em> bow, with her matching quiver sitting right next to it. Still, she had gon for the bow and it had almost gotten her killed. On the other hand I was s_o close_.

Taking my eyes off the gorgeous weapon, I surveyed the scenery. The arena seemed to split off into four different areas. Northwards were mountains, clearly seen from afar. West and East were woods. South was unknown to me, but I was too focused on the tributes to really look into it. The career stared at the weapons with hunger in their eyes, while weaker tributes cowered in fear.

My eyes met those of Rayna and Heather, who jerked her head ever so slightly to the right. We both nodded in reply as the countdown began.

20. 19. 18. 17.

I thought of my family. Willie. And Ash. Even Rosa, wherever she may be. They were all watching. I couldn't let them down.

16. 15. 14. 13.

I wondered briefly what the others were thinking. Were they thinking of home or who to kill first? Did they even mind becoming murderers?

12. 11. 10. 9.

My mind quickly went back to Katniss's strategy. Stay on the outskirts. But that bow was so close! I bit my lip unsure of what to do.

8. 7. 6.

Find water. Stay away from other tributes. Get your allies. Katniss's words of advice rang through my ears.

5. 4.

But should I go for safety?

3.

Or the bow?

2.

I'd decided.

1.

The bow.

The buzzer rang and we all charged the cornucopia. I ran like never before, pushing my legs as fast as possible. My fingers finally touched the cool metal of the bow and I couldn't help, but smile at my small victory. Yet, it was short-lived.

I spun around to see a tribute, with a blade swinging at me. Just before I hit me in the neck, a black blur flew into his own throat and he collapsed onto the ground.

**Bang!**

"Are you insane?" Rayna screamed, pulling me up. She wore an outfit quite similar to mine, aside from her green District 7 shirt. Her red hair had been put into two low pig tails and she was armed with a bag full of daggers. Heather was right behind her with a spear. Clearly I wasn't the only one with an eye for the weapons. **Bang!** I quickly swung the quiver over my shoulder and we ran for the woods as all hell broke loose.

Swords were clashing. Scream were everywhere and the field was slowly becoming more red than green. We sprinted through the mayhem, narrowly dodging the boy from District two, Thor. Though I didn't look, I heard him slice a tribute's neck.** Bang**!

We were just at the edge of the woods when a red haired boy charged Heather with a sword. She quickly deflected the jab and whacked him with her spear, knocking the boy out. Immediately, another tribute stabbed him in the chest. **Bang!** The three of us raced through the woods, not even bothering to look back. I wasn't sure how far we ran. I didn't care. I wanted to put as much distance between us and the cornucopia as possible.

After a while, Rayna stopped eye a large oak tree.

"What do you guys think? Should we camp out for tonight?" she asked. Heather and I shared a quick glance before nodding. The redheard smiled, obviously tired from our sprint. She climbed up the tree with ease, carrying her daggers and a backpack she'd managed to nab right before we entered the woods. I gripped my bow in one hand, climbing with the other. Heather did the same.

Once we were all in the tree, Heather began moving branches around to camoflage our hideout. After she finished it, we all down.

"That was insane." Heather sighed, remembering all the bodies and blood that had surrounded us just a few hours ago. I nodded in agreement. Katniss had been constantly readying me for these games, but nothing could have prepared me for that. I shivered at the thought.

"Let's look in the backpack." Rayno offered, shifting uncomfortably. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she'd already begun to feel guilty for killing that boy. Even though he had been trying to kill me, it was still hard. Killing humans were so much different than killing animals. The three of us stared at the pack as Rayna pulled out items from it. There was a bottle of water, some peroxide, a few bandages, some mittens and a roll of crackers.

Strange combination, but we were grateful none the less. We each took a small sip of water and two crackers for the night. There was a total of three more cannon fires before it began to get dark. Stars began to reveal themselve in the pitch black sky, though I wasn't quite sure whether they were real or not.

I sighed. Maybe Rosa was up there somewhere. She had always loved stars, to the point where she insisted that my eyes resembled them. I tried to disagree, but she would have none of it. Giving up, one of her many nicknames for me had become starry eyes. I pondered my sister as I lay beside Rayna and Heather. Those two were either asleep or thinking to themselves too.

'Rosa?' I thought, staring at a particularly twinkly star. 'I hope you're watching, wherever you are. I made it through the Bloodbath. I'll make you proud.'

I promise.


End file.
